.....many first time buyers. How is it fair that not only do they now have to compete against other buyers but now have to compete against housing agencies with millions of state funds to spend and buy entire blocks privately?
I might as well state from the beginning that I believe that there is a need for social and affordable housing in every civil society and I hate seeing families living in the hotels or homelessness and I do want us to do something
A 3 bed house in the area will cost close to 400k so these apartments were affordable for many first time buyers. How is it fair that not only do they now have to compete against other buyers but now have to compete against housing agencies with millions of state funds to spend and buy entire blocks privately?
as if that justified waste, gaming the system and perpetuating a welfare trap which damages everyone.
Came across a situation recently in my local area in Dublin where two new blocks of apartments were being built adjacent to an existing development on a plot of land that was in NAMA but was then sold to a developer. The developer is in the process of building over 40 apartments and nobody batted an eyelid until it came to peoples notice that the entire two blocks of over 40 apartments has been sold to a housing agency for social housing.
A market failure if ever there was one.
I'm wondering, if a potential first-time buyer cannot afford a home, can they not apply for social housing? I'm going to take a guess and expect that there is a large cohort of working people who earn 'too much' to qualify for social housing and 'too little' to be able to afford a home of their own?
If the housing agencies and local authorities are bidding up houses beyond the means of the low paid worker, that is a bit more than a market failure.
How much do you have to earn for it to be "too much" to qualify for social housing?
The limit for Council (rather than Social) housing varies between local authorities, but is €35k for a single person in a number of areas, less elsewhere.
Just an add-on to this. I do think it is highly peculiar for a social housing agency to 'bulk buy' property.
HAP is the biggest social housing support as far as I know, but they dont buy property.
Perhaps the OP could provide more detail - location, agency involved etc, lest there be any doubt about the veracity of this thread?
One other thing I should mention that it has come to light that at least one other housing agency was competing with Oaklee for this development. That means at least two voluntary housing agencies were bidding for a private development with a private developer using taxpayers money. You can't make this stuff up.........
The government is under enormous pressure to build/provide housing for the homeless. It's therefore understandable IMO that something like this would happen. Those who are not able to buy a place of their own as a result of this are the biggest losers and some must be wondering, "why bother".
I have been around this forum for a long time and I resent the implication that I am making up stories. I don't need to prove the veracity of anything.
First up, I apologise unreservedly for any insinuation on my part that you are making anything up. That was not my intention, rather that in the absence of finer detail its possible that all is not what it seems.
Looking at my previous post I can understand how it could be construed as questioning your character - bad phrasing on my part.
Second up, the only info I could find on Oaklee housing is
https://www.oaklee.ie/about-us
I assume they are the organisation involved?
If so, is it not apparent that they are the developers of the housing scheme?
It would appear that are charged with providing social housing and that is what they are doing, providing social housing for older people, single people, families and individuals with complex needs.
I never said they were the developers. They have bought the entire development from a private developer. And I also never accused them of not fulfilling their function. I am simply saying that is not fair that volunteer housing agencies are buying entire developments to the detriment of young first time buyers who are struggling to find property too and are facing disgraceful rents and that they are competing against each other using taxpayers money which only pushes the price of the property up. The idea of social housing is to integrate into the community but bulk buying like this is wrong for numerous reasons. I hadn't realised it was as widespread as it is until I looked into it.
Just an add-on to this. I do think it is highly peculiar for a social housing agency to 'bulk buy' property.
HAP is the biggest social housing support as far as I know, but they dont buy property.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?