Council ‘confident’ of hitting housing target

Lagging numbers set to be boosted by 170 units under construction

Cavan County Council remains “confident” of hitting, and even surpassing social housing targets despite figures showing new home completions have slowed during 2024.

Under ‘Housing for All’ Cavan was presented a target of 490 new build units in the period 2022-2026, and over halfway through the target period just 166 houses have been delivered across the county; still 224 shy of the target.

Those numbers however will be boosted in the months to come, with 28 new housing projects currently in the pipeline ready to add 442 new units. Some 170 of those already currently under construction. It’s anticipated not all of those 442 units will be completed by the 2026 deadline, but more than enough to hit the 490 threshold.

“Our pipeline has been building up year on year,” assures John Wilson, Senior Engineer at Cavan County Council. “So we’re confident, we’re confident we’ll meet our target.”

He states that housing has always been a “major priority” for the local authority, but especially over the past five plus years, after the government opened their chequebook and began pumping additional resources in the direction of new social housing schemes.

The money, matched often from the council’s own coffers, has been spent in a variety of ways, each targeting the increasing numbers of applications, and towards improving the quality of existing stock as well as providing solutions for the elderly, the disabled, first time buyers, and the homeless.

In the past five and half years the council has increased its existing stock to 2,186 houses. Included in that is 274 “new builds”, and more than 100 purchased and renovated properties.

They’ve also renovated 326 vacant council houses and returned them to use, doubling the number of A and B energy rated homes to 381 (17% total), and in doing so supported the accommodation of over 1,500 families.

Separately the council has paid out 841 Disabled Persons Grants to private houses to the value of more than €7.6M, have adapted 92 council homes for tenants with a disability, and approved 233 under the Croí Cónaithe Vacant Property Refurbishment Grants that started in 2022 to the value of €12M.

Similarly, Help to Buy figures have bounced back again since the end of the pandemic, with 48 granted in the first six months of the year.

“A lot of that work is out there on the ground at the minute, and we’re seeing a lot of completions come into us,” says Mr Wilson of the Vacant Property scheme.

Council Chief Executive Eoin Doyle says much of the building to date has been done by “Cavan contractors employing Cavan people”.

The council signed contracts with local firm Crosserlough Construction last week for the delivery of 13 social homes in two separate developments in Kilnaleck- at the former Briody Hardware premises, and also at Barrack Road.

Construction on the two developments, which have a total construction cost of €2.67m excluding VAT, is expected to commence in December with an estimate completion date of Q2 2026.

In July, contracts were again signed with Crosserlough Construction for the delivery of 17 social homes in two separate developments in Killeshandra (eight units) and Ballyjamesduff (nine).

Construction on the two developments, costing €3.5m, is expected to commenced in August with an estimated completion date of Q4 2025.

Since 2019 €22.4M worth of capital contracts have been drawn down by Cavan contractors, with close to €17M more currently being spent on projects.

“These are housing schemes, built in Cavan by Cavan firms employing Cavan people and housing Cavan people. We obviously have to procure, and that’s a competitive process, but one the heartening things we are seeing is Cavan firms are responding to that challenge,” said Mr Doyle.

Even still challenges do exist. Like the duration it takes to turnaround a property rented by the council once vacated. That too though is improving. “It’s down to around 40 weeks,” says Mr Wilson. “It’s still a long time, but you have to consider that it might be a month before we get the keys.”

He explains: “We have to survey the house, procure a contractor to carry out works, and get the works carried out. We have a good cohort of contractors working with us. It’s a capacity issue as well. There are a limited number of plumbers and electricians available. A house coming back to us may require a little work, or it may take a lot depending on its age. It’s something we’ve been driving at the whole time. The big thing was to get the number [of vacant houses] down first and foremost, we did a lot of great work, and now the next great push is on getting that turnaround time down.”

Inflation is another factor. Mr Wilson looks back to 2018 and 2019 when the average cost of returning a house was €13,500. Now that cost has risen closer to €22,000.

“We’re still continuing to put considerable amounts of our own resources into that so we can maintain a similar level of activity. We’re still averaging a return of about 60 houses back to use every year. The department doesn’t give you money for nothing. You have to co-fund it. It is stretching our resources, there’s no doubt about that.”

Statistics Office figures which showed overall a 7.5 per cent drop off in residential construction activity in the Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo) region.

By electoral district area, there were 20 property completions in Cavan-Belturbet in Q3 2024, 16 in Ballyjamesduff, and 33 in Bailieborough-Cootehill.

In Q2 those figures were 15, 12 and 40 respectively; and in Q1 the numbers were 13, 13 and 26.

Mr Doyle says that new development numbers is something the council is “keeping an eye on”.

“We do want to see a mix of private housing and social housing working in parallel with each other and that would be an effective housing market solution when it happens.”

Regarding the purchase of zoned and serviced landbanks for housing development, Mr Doyle says the council operates an “open door policy”.

“We’re always interested, and we’re hungry. While we do formal application processes we’re open to anyone to come speak with us,” says the council chief.

The other area is where a developer has a site with existing planning permission and is happy to sell to us at a price the council is happy to meet. Mr Wilson suggests some progress has been made in that regard, with council being “proactive” in recent years in how it identifies potential sites.

Mr Doyle concludes by saying that the council is always working with private developers to encourage investment in the county.

“We’re trying everything we possibly can. In the planning area we are speaking to and working with a lot of private developers who are putting in applications, clearly geared towards the private sector. We are encouraging that. We are seeing some, and the more we see the better.”