Council told about ‘chronic’ shortage of homes for single men

The shortage of accommodation for single men in need of housing in Westmeath is a “chronic issue”, a county councillor has claimed.

Cllr John Shaw told officials at the monthly meeting of Westmeath County Council, held on March 29, that the problem is particularly affecting men with addiction problems or mental health issues.

“They don’t always come up on our radar, but I see them on a daily basis through my work and through representations I am getting,” Cllr Shaw said.

An auctioneer, Mr Shaw said there is a clear need for the provision of more single-bedroom residences, and he said the shortage appears acute in Mullingar.

“There is nowhere for those men to go,” he said, suggesting that the council consider seeking to rent single-bedroom properties for this group. “These men about have no chance. They are not going to get a property on the private market and they need support and they need security – and the landlord needs security as well, an assurance that the rent is going to be paid and paid on time.”

Cllr Shaw was one of several councillors who called on the council to consider providing more one- or two-bed properties – and also more four-bed properties.

Cllr Johnnie Penrose agreed with Cllr Shaw and said the problem of single people requiring houses is a huge problem.

A further issue is that there are some tenants who would be happy to downsize from larger properties – if only the council had smaller units to suit them, he said.

“What surveys have been carried out on our housing stock to see where you have a family residence and only one person living in it?” he asked, adding that he knew of six or seven such properties in Ballynacargy alone. Most of those people would, he said, be happy to move to a smaller home.

“I think that’s a huge problem,” he said.

Cllr Tom Farrell was in full agreement: “Could we not also do a trial where we would build a number of smaller houses that people could move to? I know several people who are in three- or four-bedroom houses and all that is there is one or two people; their families are gone,” he said. He also believed that some of those tenants would take smaller houses if they were available.

Cllr Aoife Davitt pointed out that there are problems at the other end of the scale as well, arguing that there is a need for larger houses to accommodate the increasing numbers of blended families.

Council cathaoirleach, Cllr Ken Glynn, also said that the shortage of two- and four-bedroom properties needs to be addressed.

Responding, director of services Mark Keaveney said that the breakdown of the housing list shows about a 20% requirement for one-bedroom dwellings, a 40-50% requirement for two-bedroom dwellings; a 20% requirement for three-bedroom dwellings and the remainder of the demand is for homes with four or more bedrooms.

“In terms of moving single people or smaller households that are in larger houses, that is something we did look at – but the problem is that at the moment we don’t have that many one and two-bedroom units,” he stated.

Pointing out that this is something the council is trying to address, he said that in time, the council will be better able to accommodate transfers from larger houses to other houses.

He added that in its discussions with the Approved Housing Bodies, the council has been asking for more one and two-bedroom apartments, and to a lesser-extent, four-bedroom properties.

“The need for four beds is fairly small,” he stated.