CHA is a membership organisation, where anyone (including prospective tenants) can join as member on approval of their application by the Executive Committee and payment of a small fee. The association currently has over 80 paid up members. At a yearly AGM, the membership elects an Executive Committee of 7 members to direct its work. This Executive Committee takes on expert co-optees as required. The Association has three Officers, a Chairman, and Treasurer and a Secretary. All positions are voluntary.
Since its inception, and with relatively little publicity, CHA has had 140 applications for housing from people looking for social housing. Most applications have been for the major towns, Bantry, Skibbereen, Clonakility, and Baltimore, and some for the more rural villages. Most of these applications (53%) come from single persons or couples, the rest are from families of different sizes. Some applicants have been on the Council housing list for over 10 years, without response or explanation. 28% of applicants are unemployed, and 33% employed. The rest are self-employed, in vocational training or supported employment schemes, are students, or in receipt of disability allowance.
Since our inception, CHA has attempted to work closely with Cork County Council and the Town Councils in developing social housing to meet identified need. We have not, however, received much support from them to date in doing so. Initially, we found it very difficult to initiate any developments, due to the high cost of land zoned as residential development, as these were the only sites acceptable to the local authority for possible social housing projects. We found that the market value of these sites tended to be around 30% over the cost limits allowed for land purchase.
In 2002 we put together a feasibility study and outline planning applications for development of 2 sustainable neighbourhood developments on privately owned land at Kinaith Fineen in Bantry. The land was not zoned as residential, so we could afford the asking price with funding available. In terms of the design approach we foresaw later developments in green building by proposing that these homes be sustainable and energy-efficient and incorporate small-scale renewable energy for space and water heating, promoting planting and biodiversity, organic treatment of waste water, and other environmental criteria. With this proposal we secured European funding under the ALTENER II Programme to develop and present the proposal. Cork County Council. However, the Council was not prepared to rezone the land in question, and the proposals fell.
In 2003 we also began, in collaboration with the West Cork County Council regional office, to draw up a further sustainable social housing work up a proposal for a site owned by Cork County Council in The Slip, Bantry, and to negotiate for the transfer of this site by the County. In 2005, after much work and expenditure on our part, the Western Committee of Cork County Council rejected the land transfer proposal.
In order to continue in operation, in the face of lack of support from the local authority, we once again turned to European funding and became involved in two EU funded trans-national exchange projects from 2004 to 2007. These were the Exchange of Common Strategic Arrangements (ECSA) Project, which aimed to develop a set of indicators for social sustainable development, and the Development of Equal Opportunities in Social Economy Organisations (DESEO) Project, which aimed to map and support the local social economy in West Cork. In 2007, José Ospina, Secretary of CHA received a Level 1 Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) Award in recognition of the efforts made by CHA.
Ironically enough, it could be that the collapse of the housing market that actually gives CHA the chance to achieve its objectives. Land prices are coming down to level close to government cost limits for land purchase for voluntary housing. Hanks to this we are currently working on a further proposal, again in Bantry. This is set on a privately owned site, with residential zoning, near the Town Centre, that we are in the process of assessing. The project is being designed with the help of DHB Architects in Waterford, and will aiming at around 20 sustainable homes and a community facility, probably a cyber-centre, in a community friendly design. The carefully designed, A-rated low-energy homes will be available for rent, at genuinely affordable rents, for single persons and families. The Project will be holistically ecological, incorporating renewable and non-polluting construction materials, a renewable energy for heat and power, organic wastewater
treatment and planting to enhance biodiversity.
But the housing market collapse has created another unacceptable situation that we would like to help redress. Many houses are currently on the market that cannot be sold, and many of these are vacant and waiting for buyers. This problem also has financial implications, where the developers are at risk of defaulting on development loans undertaken to build them, but is also absurd that this should be the case when there is growing housing need. The government has recently introduced a long-term leasing programme, to help bail out owners and house persons who cannot afford to buy at the same time. Grants are being made available to Local Authorities to lease these homes from the owners for long periods, during which time they will be used to meet social housing needs, being returned when the market is (hopefully) once again buoyant. This funding is only available to local authorities at present, but we are told it will soon be extended to housing
associations. This is an area that we are very keen to explore, and we are currently looking for properties that could be used under this Programme when it becomes available to us.
We are also considering developing a community energy efficiency service that can provide energy assessment and improvements for persons who are living in inefficient homes and cannot afford to upgrade commercially. We are hoping to gain support from various government and European agencies for this activity, aimed at combating fuel poverty and climate change in practical way.
These, and we hope other potential action to improve local housing, will be the subject of the AGM of Carbery Housing Association, which will be held at 8 PM on Thursday April 9th at the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen. In particular we be "re-launching" Carbery Housing Association so that it can respond to the current housing and environmental issues. Marlene O'Connor, director of Simon Galway and a native of Schull, will explain how the current crisis requires a effective community response. A new Executive Committee will be elected, so this is an opportunity for people who are serious about doing something to improve the situation for households who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market to get involved. For more details about the AGM and CHA contact José Ospina, Secretary, on 028 21890. You can also find more information on our Web Site www.carberyhousing. eu
