More than 50 applications so far for 10 'affordable homes' in Athlone
In the space of just a week, the ten-unit 'affordable housing scheme' in the new Bower Hill development in Athlone attracted more than 50 applications from people looking to buy one of the homes.
The online application portal for the ten affordable homes went 'live' on the Westmeath County Council website on Monday, October 17.
At this week's meeting of the local authority, director of services for housing, Mark Keaveney, reported that there had been a significant public response to the scheme in the seven days since the application process opened.
"As of this morning, we have 54 applications in for the houses there. The team is working through (the applications) in terms of assessing who is eligible," he said.
The application portal for the scheme will remain open until midnight on Monday, November 7.
Mr Keaveney added that the council was recently granted approval to offer 43 affordable housing units in Mullingar, and that it was "looking at other proposals" for affordable housing in the Athlone Moate Municipal District.
"We are making good progress and we are one of the few local authorities that will be delivering (affordable housing) in the next year and a half or so," he said.
The ten houses offered through the scheme in Bower Hill consist of one two-bedroom house, eight three-bedroom houses, and one four-bedroom house.
Income limits apply in respect of those seeking to avail of the scheme, and the minimum purchase prices of the ten houses will range from €241,000 to €298,000.
According to the council, where the number of eligible applicants for the scheme exceeds the number of houses available, a 'scheme of priority' will be used to determine who will be offered a house.
Under the council's 'scheme of priority', seven of the ten houses will be offered on a 'first come first served' basis, in relation to the time and date of application.
The remaining three houses will see priority given to households whose current address is in the Athlone Moate District, or is otherwise within 10km of the Bower Hill development.
Noting the discrepancy between the number of applicants and the number of available homes, Athlone councillor Frankie Keena asked how the council intended to respond to the evident demand for affordable housing locally.
"Are we looking at a land bank, where we can look for serious money to build affordable housing? Or are we looking for the private developer to come with five, six, ten houses?" Cllr Keena asked.
"We need to address this. I'm sure the 54 applications (for Bower Hill) will be up to 70 by the time the closing date comes, which is not fair on the people hoping to get one of these houses."
Mr Keaveney replied that all local authorities had been "starting from a standing start," during the last year, in relation to affordable housing.
"In terms of building our own pipeline, we are trying to do that. We did buy land last year and some of that will be used for affordable housing. And we are looking at other sites in the county that might be suitable for affordable housing as well.
"A building pipeline takes a bit longer, which is why the Government and most of the other authorities that have affordable housing are looking to deliver through (private) developers in the first instance," Mr Keaveney said.