Council closed 83% of requests made to housing maintenance department
Mr Keohane suggested that the Council could have “in-house tradespeople to deal with easy quick repairs” which he said would, in turn, prevent thousands of euros worth of damage in the long term. Picture Denis Minihane.
Cork City Council closed out 83 per cent of service requests made to its Housing Maintenance Department up to October last year, up from 67 per cent in 2022.
City Council's Director of Services Niall Ó Donnabháin told councillors that between January to October 2023, the Housing Maintenance Department received over 16,500 service requests, with the close out of 13,752 cases for the same period.
He was speaking in response to a motion from Independent councillor Ger Keohane who had raised concerns about delays in maintaining some Cork City Council-owned homes.
“My reasoning for this motion is that one family is waiting 18 months and still waiting to get their window skylights repaired because they are leaking and as a result of the delay their entire house is covered in mould, damp throughout, bathroom electrics do not work etc,” he said.
“If this maintenance request was carried out immediately, we would not have a destroyed house which will cost thousands of euros to remedy the damage.”
Mr Keohane suggested that the Council could have “in-house tradespeople to deal with easy quick repairs” which he said would, in turn, prevent thousands of euros worth of damage in the long term.
Speaking to The Echo, Mr Keohane said the issues raised in his motion were discussed at a recent meeting of the Housing Strategic Policy Committees (SPC) during which he said “a good debate” was had.
“The head of housing gave a comprehensive and promising report for the maintenance programme for 2024,” he said.
In response to Mr Keohane’s motion last night, Mr Ó Donnabháin said: “The Housing Maintenance Department receives over 21,000 service requests on a yearly basis.
“These service requests are logged through Cork City Council’s Customer Service Unit. Cases are categorised as emergency, urgent, and routine, and are dealt with in order of priority by the Council’s depot teams and appointed specialist contractors depending on the nature and type of repair work involved.
“From January to October 2023, the Housing Maintenance Department received over 16,500 service requests, with the close out of 13,752 cases for the same period. This equates to an 83% close-out rate up from 67% in 2022.
“The Directorate is committed to improving housing maintenance service delivery and endeavours to expedite all service requests in a timely manner and in accordance with the order of priority as outlined above for the benefit of all our current and future tenants.”
Mr Ó Donnabháin said all service requests can be logged by tenants of Cork City Council through the Customer Service Unit.
App?
