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THE HOUSING CHARITY Peter McVerry Trust has hit its strategic housing target 12 months ahead of schedule.
Under its strategic plan announced in 2016, the charity said it wanted to double its housing units to 450 housing units by the end of 2020.
Today, the Peter McVerry Trust said it has met that target already and has plans to add a minimum 100 more units in 2020.
The housing has been delivered across the country, with a number in Dublin, Limerick and Louth.
CEO Pat Doyle said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to more than double our housing stock in 4 years and that we are now one year ahead of our plans. However, this isn’t about targets it’s really about delivering more homes for people in need as quickly as we can.
We are committed to the Housing First model and to ensuring that people can realise their right to housing. The only way we can deliver on both these fronts is to ensure we play our part in housing the most vulnerable, particularly single people, for whom housing is in shortest supply.
Housing First
Ireland first signalled a shift away from the traditional “staircase” model of addressing homelessness and towards a housing first approach in the 2011 Programme for Government.
The staircase model would involve a homeless person going through a number of steps (for example getting clean from drugs, completing courses, etc) before they were allowed transition to a house.
Housing First flipped this model on its head with a secure, safe, permanent home with support being the primary goal; and recovery, therapy or whatever else is needed coming after that.
Finland adopted a housing first programme in 2008 and has all but eliminated long-term homelessness there.
The housing first programme in Dublin is run by workers from the Peter McVerry trust and is financed by the Dublin Regional Housing Executive (DRHE).
After the pilot initiative in Dublin, it expanded to other areas of the country.
Last November, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) issued a tender worth €16.4 million for Housing First.
In June, Kildare County Council issued a tender worth an estimated €702,000 for Housing First services over a three-year period.
And, in July, Westmeath County Council issued a three-year tender for the provision of Housing First services in the region.
Homelessness
The charity’s further commitment comes as the housing and homelessness crisis remains a huge issue, with the latest figures showing that over 10,500 people in Ireland are homeless.
Those figures were published on the same day that a no confidence motion was tabled against Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy, which was narrowly defeated by 56 to 53 votes.
The Residential Tenancies Board’s (RTB) latest quarterly index published yesterday showed an 8.2% increase in the average cost of rent compared to the same time last year.
In the report, the RTB said a “significant increase in the number of properties available for both sale and rent will be required in order to temper the rapid growth in rent prices”.
It said that despite the number of housing completions increasing recently, the level of supply remains “significantly below the level” of structural demand.
Peter McVerry Trust CEO Doyle said that while the news they’d met their targets was good news for those who’ve been housed, it would be necessary to “redouble” their efforts next year.
“We are putting more resources than ever into our housing development programme, not just in Dublin but right across the country from Dundalk to Tralee and Bray to Galway,” he said.
We have a plan to add at a minimum of 100 further units in 2020 and are working on a range of other opportunities that will see more empty buildings brought back to use, more town centre retail spaces converted to homes, more derelict buildings regenerated, and more new homes built for people who need them.
Doyle acknowledged the assistance from the Department of Housing, the Housing Agency and local authorities for funding most of the charity’s housing development work. He also thanked donors who’d assisted the charity.
The latest efforts from the Peter McVerry Trust have seen a planning application lodged for 12 apartments on Shaw Street in Dublin. The charity also has active projects in Dublin 2, Dublin 4, Dublin 6 and Dublin 8.
With reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald
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Well done. Now if only the government could be so effecient.
@Dave Thomas: its easier to deliver 225 houses in 4 years than 225,000 in four yours, so you are comparing apples and oranges a bit there.
Regardless, well done to the trust for not only hitting their goal ahead of schedule but also increasing their goal by 44% in 25% of the time
@David Memery: The government have built 2,229 house’s so far in 2019. For a small charity to be able to build 10% of a very well funded state, I think is very impressive. I will definitely be donating to the trust. Well done.
@Dave Thomas: You do realise it’s the Government giving them the funding for these properties? The government have basically shared the social housing burden with charities and private landlords.
@The next small thing: and importantly, the housing budget is distributed solely to these charities, effectively bypassing council social housing lists. People don’t seem to realise that this and other charities are no different than private consortia in the social housing chain, taking public funds, kitting out properties, and deciding who takes them. They, and all regional housing “charities and trusts”, are another (fully paid professional) layer in the property world that will be impossible to remove when trying to reduce costs and centralise social housing. They are also sitting on the largest vacant public developed property portfolio, ultimately owned by the church. And we thought it was hard to get them out of hospitals and schools!
@David Memery: so my point stands.
@Brin: that is not 100% true. Majority of tenancies are via nominations from the local authorities.
@Dave Thomas: I know, I was agreeing with you but pointing out the differences in scale. The trust has been significantly more productive, but I wonder as scale were increased would they remain as productive?
@Terri Palmer: you said it “nominations”. And majority? Who else is nominated if not the housing list – this is public money!
@Dave Thomas: Doyle acknowledged the assistance from the Department of Housing, the Housing Agency and local authorities for funding most of the charity’s housing development work. The government has outsourced the provision of housing to the charity industry which has to add another layer of costs to building costs. The charities get all the praise while the government gets lambasted even though they ultimately provide the housing. There is something like 90 housing charities and AHB’s in Ireland. That can’t be an efficient use of taxpayers money. The devil is in the detail which this article did n’t provide. What was the average cost of each unit provided by the charity compared to a commercial developer. How much money did they receive from the government. Why do they seem to be only providing properties in the centre of Dublin. Are these houses being given to the working homeless or people like addicts. I seem to remember The McVerry trust being gifted council land in Dublin 2. How much was that land worth at the commercial rates a developer would have to pay. Obviously the provision of any housing is a good thing but I am not convinced that we the taxpayer are getting value for money from the charity industry
All great they also bought a house a few doors away from me and what was a lovely peaceful street is now just hell.
@Jp Murray: correction: you (taxpayer) bought, they manage, you reap.
@Jp Murray: I use to to live two doors down from his house in Santry and was gettin broken into every six months .
Did you miss the 16.5 million of Dublin
homeless agency money that pays for these ‘charity’ builds. They are doing the state’s job with the state’s money so that the state doesn’t have to be transparent. Ask the people living in the Aungier Street area of Dublin who are being ignored by the Peter Mc Verry Trust.
Congratulations to the Trust.
Good job! I would vote for them as the party that cares for all its citizens. The poor and low income need to start voting en masse, then we’d see some change.
lets see if the other corporate homeless charities follow suit,well done
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