Agenda and minutes

Proposed by Councillor Paddy O’Rourke, seconded by Councillor Enda Stenson, and UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:

“That the Minutes of the Housing Policy, Social and Cultural Development Strategic Policy Committee meeting held on 28^th September 2022 be adopted.”

Mr Justin Fannon provided the members with an update on the latest Housing information for Leitrim as follows:

·         There are currently 192 households on the Housing Waiting list, which is an increase of 15 from same period last year

·         Including households currently availing of HAP and households seeking a transfer from their existing accommodation, there is a total of 516 on the list.

·         The Housing Action Plan has a target for 2022 of 30 units to be delivered. The expected delivery will be 32 units. This has been achieved through direct builds and the acquisition of turnkey units.

·         The moratorium on acquisition that was in effect in the early part of 2022, was relaxed in June and since then 13 units have been acquired. The sale has been completed on 6 of these units and keys have been received. The remaining 7 will be closed out in early 2023.

·         Under Part V Planning legislation, Leitrim County Council will receive 3 properties in a development in Ballinamore.  These units will be two 1 bed apartments and one 3 bedroom town house.

·         Croí Cónaithe: 3 applications have been approved for grants, 3 others have received provisional approval and there have been approximately 60 queries about the grant.

·         Housing Grants: 107 grants have been paid out to the value of €681k

·         Additional funding of €140K has been received from the Department, with Leitrim County Council providing matched funding of €40k. Total additional funding of €180k.

·         An additional 91 grant applications have been approved with a value of €651K.

·         Given the rate of grant applications it is likely that in June/July 2023 further additional funding will be sought from the Department.

·         Homelessness: There have been 26 homeless presentations in 2022 to date. 14 have been referred to Temporary Emergency Accommodation.

·         Delivery of Traveller Accommodation units has been exceeded. The target delivery over the lifetime of the Traveller Accommodation Plan was 25 units. To date, 32 units have been delivered.

Tenant Purchase Scheme

Following receipt of Department of Housing circular on the Tenant Purchase Scheme, Leitrim County Council has carried out a review of the excluded properties list.

Significant costs are associated with bringing a property to a BER rating of B1, therefore all properties that have been built or acquired in the past 5 years have been added to the excluded properties list. In total there are 140 newly acquired or built properties to be added to the existing list, bringing the total number of properties on the excluded list to 300. As other newly built or acquired properties come on stream, they will be added to the excluded list.

Cllr Paddy O’Rourke asked how the shortfall between the market price of a property and the tenant purchase price of a property is made up.

Cllr Mary Bohan made the following comments/queries:

·         She complimented the Housing Section on a achieving the housing delivery target for 2022.

·         She supports the proposal to add newly acquired and bult properties to the excluded list

·         One and Two  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

MS Susan Barry gave an update on the current funding opportunities available to community groups. These schemes are:

·       A Pobal administered scheme for the community & Voluntary Sector to help them deal with high energy costs

·       The Community Support Fund of €265,201. The LCDC will determine the criteria for the scheme. Grants will be allocated to successful applicants on the basis of 50% towards operating costs and 50% towards capital costs. The scheme will open for applications early in 2023.

Mr. Philip Delamere, Arts Officer, delivered a presentation to the members on the Draft Culture and Creativity Strategy 2023-2028.  The presentation, as delivered to the members, appears as Appendix 1 to the minutes of the meeting.

Mr. David McGlinchy, KPMG, delivered a presentation to the members on the preparation of the new 6 year Local Economic and Communiy Plan 2023-2029.  The presentation, as delivered to the members, appears as Appendix 2 to the minutes of the meeting.

Mr. Kieran Brett summarised the items from this meeting and outlined that in keeping with normal procedures, a report from this Strategic Policy Committee will be prepared for presentation at the next meeting of the Corporate Policy Group and plenary Council.

Mr. Kieran Brett advised the members that the next meeting of the Housing, Community & Culture SPC will take place at 10 am on Wednesday 8^th February 2023.