Give Cavan Monaghan House buyers a break : Pay Vacant homes grants incrementally - Cllr Sarah O'Reilly
The vacant and derelict housing grants should be paid out in two stages if many people in Cavan Monaghan are to have any hope of buying a home.
That’s according to Aontú Cllr Sarah O’Reilly, a candidate in Cavan Monaghan for the upcoming General Election who says
“The grants are a huge incentive to get these once loved properties back into use again. However, people who want to turn these vacant and derelict properties into homes find themselves caught as they have to pay out for the work first and then apply for the money back. This is out of the reach of so many people as they used up all the money they have actually buying the house in the first place. It’s really ridiculous that schemes that are so good in principle are a nightmare in practise.” “We have 100,000 private vacant properties nationally and 4,000 council properties.”
“I want some common sense around this issue; pay the grants to house buyers in two stages and give them a real chance to put a roof over their heads. Also I believe the current time scale of 13 months that is given to people doing these properties is not enough. We have a severe shortage of tradespeople; it should be 18 months in order for it to work to its full potential”.
“We need to have imagination around these grants; they are an excellent and truly sustainable way for people to buy a home, they have the potential to greatly revitalise rural communities across Cavan Monaghan but in order for them to work they have to be accessible and currently, they’re simply not”.
“In the midst of the worst housing crisis this country has ever seen it is incumbent on the Government to make these grants easier to draw down”.
