This article is from page 19 of the 2011-03-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
LOCAL authority housing tenants in Kilrush are being given the chance to buy their houses at knockdown prices, as the town council has endorsed a new purchase scheme putting houses up for grabs at 45 per cent of their market value.
The go-ahead for this groundbreaking initiative was given by councillors at last Thursday night’s monthly meeting of Kilrush Town Council, but the town authorities have been warned that confronting the problems in John Paul Estate is key to the success of the new purchase scheme.
“I could see this being very attractive,” Cllr Stephen O’Gorman told the council executive, “but only if we get our house in order. When you go into John Paul Estate with 36 boarded up houses, you won’t see a queue of people wanting to buy them.
“We have a massive problem. It’s a town council problem. There are 40 houses vacant in the town, with 36 of them vacant in John Paul Estate. People are waiting for rents to come down so they can move out of John Paul Estate,” added Cllr O’Gorman.
Under the new scheme which will operate until December 31 this year, tenants must be in local authority housing for over ten years.
“We all welcome the scheme, but the big elephant in the room is market value,” said Cllr Tom Prendeville.
“I know three people who went looking for loans to the banks and the answer that came back is that ‘we have no money’,” revealed Cllr O’Gorman.