In Kilkenny on Wednesday 29th May, Minister Darragh O’Brien visited two housing development sites to officially open Affordable Homes, at Cluain Glasan and Nyne Park. Both developments are new build projects including private, affordable private and social homes. Between both developments more than 320 new build homes will be provided.
The Cairn Homes development at Nyne Park includes 35 affordable purchase properties made available to eligible private purchasers at a price below the market price of the properties, in return for Kilkenny County Council taking a percentage equity share in the property. This is facilitated through state subvention under the governments Housing for All Plan. Prospective purchasers can visit the showhouse at Nyne Park on Saturdays to see the high-quality homes on offer.
Speaking at the event, Minister O’Brien outlined how:
“The development of these new homes is a significant milestone in the provision of affordable and high-quality homes in Kilkenny City as in total, these projects will delivery over 320 new homes. It is when I travel round the country that I see how these homes deliver life changing opportunities for people. With these new properties, more families will now have a secure, high-quality, affordable place to call home.
Under Housing for All, we have recently seen that home building starts have hit record levels, with work starting on over 18,000 homes nationally last month. In Kilkenny, 469 new home commencements in the first four months of this year, which is a record for this period.
As you can see, through the hard work of our local authorities and approved housing bodies, we are delivering in Kilkenny – as we are, under Housing for All, throughout the country. We will continue to work in partnership with local authorities and use every tool available to us to continue to increase housing supply and build on this momentum.”
Director of Services Mary Mulholland pointed out that “the capital delivery team within Kilkenny County Council is committed to providing mixed tenure developments to build inclusive and socially sustainable communities. We can only do that working in partnership with Approved Housing Bodies, like Clúid Housing and proactive developers like Cairn Homes and Glenveagh Properties.”
Michael Stanley, CEO, Cairn Homes, said “Cairn is very proud to deliver these much-needed homes at our development in Nyne Park Kilkenny in partnership with Kilkenny County Council and Clúid Housing. Cairn is committed to building high quality homes across all tenures to play our part in addressing Ireland’s housing needs. With the support of our partners, we commenced construction on 177 homes in Nyne Park, across multiple tenures and densities in February 2023 and we are heartened to already see people living in these homes just 12 months later. We hope that these families will be very happy as they join upwards of 20,000 people who also call a Cairn home their home.”
At the Glenveagh Properties development at Cluain Glasan, Clúid Housing, have made available 25 Cost Rental homes. These are the first cost rental properties provided in Kilkenny. Cost Rental is a new form of long-term rental to provide stable housing to families who can not avail of social housing solutions but struggle to source private rented accommodation that provides long term stability of tenure and certainty of rent.
Welcoming both developments and the mix of private, affordable and social housing Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council, Cllr Michael Doyle, congratulated the developers, Clúid Housing and local officials on the delivery of high numbers of homes, badly needed in the City. Speaking at Cluain Glasan Cllr Doyle said “it has long been acknowledged that we need all types of housing to allow low and middle income households to achieve home ownership and security in rented accommodation. These houses are long term permanent homes for people who cannot access social housing and we look forward to many more affordable homes in the coming years.”
Niall Ó’Ceallacháin, CEO of Clúid Housing said that “The A-rated homes will provide families with secure, high quality homes close to the city, with rents 27% cheaper than the average in the area.” Members of the public interested in living in one of these stunning A-rated homes can apply now online via the Clúid Housing website www.cluid.ie or www.daft.ie .
The availability of housing for small and large, low and middle income families is a real challenge in Kilkenny. The options available to households is increased with the provision of Affordable Housing and Kilkenny County Council will continue to work towards the provision of both social and private housing across the county. Further information on Affordable Housing can be found at https://kilkennycoco.ie/affordable-homes .
