SPC 1 - Minutes
Minutes of Meeting of Strategic Policy Committee 1 – Housing & Corporate – held on Tuesday, 7th December, 2021 at 10.00 a.m. in The Council Chamber, County Hall, Riverside, Sligo
MEMBERS PRESENT:
- Councillor Arthur Gibbons (Chair)
- Councillor Declan Bree
- Councillor Gino O’Boyle
MEMBERS ATTENDING VIRTUALLY:
- Pippa Black (PPN Social Inclusion)
- Melinda Swann (PPN Environment)
- Alan McMenamin (PPN Community and Voluntary)
- Councillor Paul Taylor
- Councillor Martin Baker
OFFICIALS IN ATTENDANCE:
- Mr Jim Molloy, Director of Services
- Mr Joe Murphy, Senior Executive Officer
- Mr Sean Martin, A/Senior Architect (virtually)
- Mr Jimmy O’Brien, I.S. Project Leader
- Ms Aine Carr, Meetings Administrator (virtually)
- Ms Caroline McManus, Senior Staff Officer
- Ms Mary Farrell, Assistant Staff Officer
APOLOGIES:
Apologies were received from Councillor Tom Fox and Pascal Connolly, Trade Union Pillar
INTRODUCTION:
The Chair, Councillor Gibbons, welcomed all to the meeting.
PRESENTATION BY THRESHOLD:
A. Carr, Meetings Administrator, informed the meeting that the Irish Wheelchair Association would not be making a presentation as they did not have internet connection. Since there was already a presentation from Self Organised Architecture arranged to take place at the next meeting of SPC1 in March, 2022, it was agreed to defer the Irish Wheelchair Association presentation to the meeting scheduled after that. P. Black informed the meeting that PPN also wished to give a presentation on wellbeing findings and it was agreed that this presentation would be included on the agenda for the meeting in September, 2022.
MINUTES OF MEETING OF SPC1 HELD ON 28TH SEPTEMBER, 2021:
It was proposed by Councillor Bree
Seconded by Councillor O’Boyle
AND AGREED
“To confirm the minutes of the Meeting of the Strategic Policy Committee 1 – Housing and Corporate – held on 28th September, 2021.
P. Black asked for an amendment to be made to the minutes of meeting on 28th September, 2021.
The amendment related to the rate of average HAP uplift applied nationally as referenced in a presentation by Threshold to the SPC.
NOMINATION TO SLIGO COUNTY COUNCIL DISABILITY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE:
It was proposed by Councillor Bree
Seconded by Councillor O’Boyle
And agreed
‘To consider nomination to the Sligo County Council Disability Consultative Committee, Ms Rosaleen Lally, Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) to replace Ms Jillian Marelich (IWA)’
WORK PROGRAMME LIST:
P. Black expressed concern that no items from the work programme list had been discussed at SPC1 meetings to date. On the recommendation of the Chair, it was agreed that a copy of the list be sent to each member for the March meeting in 2022.
J. Murphy, Senior Executive Officer, gave an update to the meeting setting out the outurn for 2017 and the targets and delivery for 2018-2021 (report already circulated). He said that there were 2 developments nearing completion, i.e the housing development in Connolly Park, Tubbercurry Phase 1 and a house in Croagh, Dromore West and 10 houses had been delivered in Dromore West in September/October 2021. He further stated that under Housing First the Council had a target of over 500 houses to deliver in the next 5 years.
S. Martin, A/Senior Architect informed the meeting that one approved Housing Body would deliver 5 units at Sea Road by March 2022. He said that construction had commenced on 6 houses in Bunninadden and that the Council had got approval to purchase 73 dwellings of a turnkey site on the Ursuline/Finisklin Road which was due to be delivered over the next couple of years. He further advised that it was a multi mix of houses, 2 group homes with decongregated settings. He said that this was in response to an advertisement that was placed for expressions of interest in 2020. There was also an advertisement for 10 settlements in the county area.
With regard to Councillor O’Boyle’s query regarding the building or acquisition of 5 bedroom houses, S. Martin informed the meeting that there was a 5 bed included in the PPP development at Rathellen.
Councillor Bree queried if the housing delivery action plan requested by the Minister had been drafted and whether it was a reserved or executive function. In reply J. Molloy, Director of Services said that the plan was currently being drafted and that it was an executive function. He informed the meeting that it was based on figures that the Department expected the Council to deliver over the next 5 years 2022-2026 and with targets for each year. He said that once the draft action plan was complete, it would have to be submitted to the office of the Minister by the 17th December, that there would be a short period for review and that the final plan would then be brought to the SPC1 for information purposes.
Councillor Bree proposed that the information that the SPC1 had been provided with be noted and this was seconded by Councillor O’Boyle and agreed by the Members.
Councillor Bree thanked J. Molloy for the update and said that the SPC1 would await the plan.
DRAFT ALLOCATION SCHEME:
J. Murphy, Senior Executive Officer, summarised the contents of the Draft Allocation Scheme which had previously been circulated to the members and the revisions proposed including an ‘offer zone’, housing first, reservation of dwellings, order of priority for dwelling allocations, etc He advised the meeting that the adoption of this scheme was not a function of the SPC1 but it was a reserved function that would have to go the members of the full Council for approval and then to the Minister.
Councillor Bree referred to an Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government report regarding allocation schemes and he said that a draft was to be sent to all Local authorities. J. Murphy advised that a number of the recommendations in the Oireachtas Committee report were referred to in this draft Scheme. He said that the aim was for this scheme to be consistent and transparent unlike the current scheme which was in existence since 2011.
J. Murphy thanked staff members Eithne Currid, Caroline McManus and Emer Connolly for their input into the draft scheme and extended his sympathy to Emer on the death of her father, Jimmy.
Councillor Bree thanked J. Murphy for the comprehensive report and acknowledged the work of the staff involved.
He queried if a person on the housing list was willing to accept accommodation anywhere within Sligo Town, could this be facilitated.
J. Murphy advised that currently the town area is divided into six areas of choice Areas A to F (incl). The only way this could be achieved is to create an additional area of choice to include all of the town area. J. Murphy said that this could be investigated and all members were in agreement
Following Councillor Baker’s query on areas of choice, J. Murphy informed the meeting that once a person selects their area(s) of choice, they cannot make a change for a period of 12 months i.e. the date of approval on the housing list or the date the Change of Area of Choice Form is received in the office, whichever is the later. C. McManus informed the meeting that if a household refuses two reasonable offers of housing within a 12 month period, they are removed from the housing list for 12 months from the date of their second refusal. She further stated that households who were availing of HAP or any other form of housing support could still avail of it.
Councillor Taylor thanked all those involved in the work on the draft allocation scheme. He expressed concern regarding applicants on the housing list who were housed in areas that they would not have chosen.
C. McManus replied that persons are normally housed in their area of choice but they may have changed their area of choice. She stated that in the past applicants were regularly changing their area of choice within 12 months and this would have been facilitated but this was no longer allowed by the Housing Section.
Councillor O’Boyle thanked the executive for the draft report and said that the RAS transfer pathway was a great initiative. He expressed concern regarding antisocial behaviour and C. McManus replied that the Council employs an Estate Officer and a Housing Investigations Officer to look into any issues relating to antisocial behaviour and estate management generally. J. Murphy informed the meeting that the Council does serve tenancy warnings and advises tenants to talk to the Investigations Officer who can bring their evidence to court.
J. Murphy said that there may be a case for bringing more cases to court and that exclusion orders had been brought against persons. He asked that any serious cases of antisocial behaviour should be brought to the Council’s attention.
The Chair, Councillor Gibbons, believed that Tusla and other appropriate agencies should play a bigger part and this was reiterated by M. Swann.
Following a query from Councillor Bree regarding refusal of offers under RAS or long term leasing, and whether leasing of houses was seen as an option for the future, the meeting was informed by J. Murphy that the Council still have almost 400 persons on RAS but there is not a sufficient supply of houses for RAS going forward.
C. McManus informed the meeting that HAP replaced rent supplement, therefore fewer households were in receipt of rent supplement in order to be eligible for the RAS Scheme. She further advised that there would not be a supply of households eligible for the RAS Scheme going forward.
Following a query from Councillor Bree regarding succession of tenancy, where the tenant is not eligible, J. Murphy stated that he would revert to Councillor Bree on the issue.
Councillor Bree also queried the order or priority for dwelling allocations and asked if the draft allocation scheme could be examined again and points allocated under each heading. J. Murphy replied that it would be difficult to get a points system that would meet all the housing needs as there were so many. He informed the meeting that this would be reexamined.
In reply to a query from Councillor Bree regarding Income over rent, J. Murphy said that this was not in the new scheme. He said that it proved difficult to keep seeking up to date income details from households.
HAP UPLIFT:
P. Black expressed concern about HAP falling short of the market rent and hadn’t been aware that local authorities had discretion to apply up to 20% uplift. She said the PPN wanted to propose that the Council undertake a review of the current criteria for HAP uplift with a view to using the 20% discretion in more cases.
J. Murphy advised the meeting that the Council have discretion to increase HAP limits by up to 20% on a case by case basis. He said that there was a failure nationally to increase the limits since 2016 and this was raised with the Department and a report by the Department was due at the end of the year.
C. McManus advised that when a HAP application is received or when there is a rent review requested by a HAP tenant, a sustainability check is done and the Council must ensure that no more than 30% of a household’s income is spent on rent. She said that it is not automatic that everyone gets a 20% increase and further stated that if the household had sufficient income with less than 30% being spent on rent, then they did not need an uplift.
Following a query from Councillor O’Boyle regarding HAP limits, C. McManus informed the meeting that HAP limits depended on the number of persons in the household as opposed to the house size eg single person was €460.00, parent with three children €600.00 and they did vary from county to county. The meeting was informed that a copy of the review of HAP limits would be circulated when available.
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY SPC MEMBERS:
Submitted by Ms. Pippa Black:
- What are the plans Sligo County Council has to provide supported housing in small clusters in each village/ community to allow elderly people continue to live in own community and not have to go into congregated large distant nursing home. Has Sligo County Council had any discussions with HSE to ensure necessary nursing / home support is available to such clusters to ensure people can remain at home.
- Can the PPN make a presentation on the aspects of our wellbeing data that relate directly to the work of this committee?
With regard to question one, S. Martin informed the meeting that as part of the housing for all plan, the objective was balanced development taken from the assessment of need. He said that the Council would endeavour to address all the needs i.e. people with special needs, elderly and the aim under Housing for All was that people would be fully integrated within a mixed tenure.
Question two had already been dealt with earlier in the meeting.
Submitted by Ms. Melinda Swann:
Sustainable Draining Systems in housing development in Sligo
In a previous meeting a planner spoke to us about the Sustainable drainage systems being put into plans for all new developments around Sligo. Would it be possible to get data on exactly where any of these SuDs have been created, what they are, i.e. green roofs, swales etc. (please see attached explanation of these) and where the next development that will include SuDs in Sligo will be.
J. Molloy, Director of Services advised the meeting that sustainable drainage systems came under building standards and what was required through the planning process. He said that there were no statistics as every development required a sustainable drainage system.
CORRESPONDENCE:
There was no correspondence.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
On the proposal of Councillor Gibbons, seconded by Councillor O’Boyle, it was agreed that a vote of sympathy be extended to the Kilgannon family on the death of Jimmy, father of Emer Connolly, Administrative Officer, Housing.
The Chair, Councillor Gibbons, thanked all for attending the meeting and wished everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING:
It was agreed that the next meeting of SPC1 would take place on Tuesday, 8th March, 2022.
END OF MEETING:
The business of the meeting concluded at 11.30 a.m.
Meeting Date 07/12/2021