Alarm as 17% of houses in Cork northside estate lie vacant

Almost 17% of social homes in a northside estate are vacant, Cork City Council has confirmed, as a local councillor has expressed concern that some of the properties are deteriorating.

Barrett’s buildings, in Gurranabraher, six terraces of two-storey, red-brick houses used for social housing, were built in the early 1900s.

Sinn Féin councillor Kenneth Collins asked the council at the recent north-west local area committee meeting how many homes there were in total and how many were vacant. He had noticed a lot of empy units while he was canvassing there ahead of the presidential election.

He was told by the council’s acting director of housing services, Nicky Carroll, that there were 89 total units, and that 15 of those were vacant. Of these 15, just five were due to be returned for letting within a month.

Mr Collins has also asked how many eligible people on the social-housing list have Gurranabraher listed as an area of interest, and was told nine people have the area down as their first choice.

Mr Collins told The Echo: 

“I was canvassing for Catherine Connolly and it became clear, while knocking on doors, that there were a lot of homes with nobody living in them. Out of 89 homes, 15 vacant is almost one in five.”

Mr Collins expressed concern that ten of the homes would not be relet in the next month, saying: “It’s down to funding.”

A council spokesperson previously told The Echo: “Cork City Council prioritises the return of properties with the least work required, with the aim of returning the maximum number of houses each year.

“This can lead to properties requiring extensive repairs, such as fire- damaged houses, requiring longer return times. The priority is to return as many houses as soon as possible for allocation.”

Mr Collins said: “I just can’t believe it. I have dozens of people I could propose to go into these houses. There’s a housing crisis, we have people living in BnBs, couch surfing. Then, the likes of these homes are vacant.

“Cork City Council are doing their best to get as many homes as possible, but the Government needs to give them enough money to do up all the voids.

“Leaving them vacant means the cost of refurbishing them is only going to go up;, there’s inflation on work needing done, and there could be damage in the house getting worse.

“If it’s lying idle, the heating isn’t on, there could be dampness or leaks; it has a knock-on effect.”