Affordable Housing / Shared Ownership

emma6606

Hey
I am thinking very strongly about going for an affordable house, or getting shared ownership. Ill go for Naas or blessington though cos Dublin is too hectic. I'd be going for it as a single though, has anyone else gotten one by themselves? Do they give you a tiny apartment ? Im worried that they'll only give me a little box to live in...
What are the units like?
Thanks
Emma

Victor

They will tend to provide towards your needs. A family is more likely to get a bigger property than a couple or single person.

Where do you live and where do you have family / work / connections? They seem to be allowing only one application per person.

Beruthiel

for more info on shared ownership, read this

Louisiana

i know the shared ownership/ afforable housing scheme sound great in theory but i dont think its something you can rely on. its worth a look but you could be left waiting indefinetly, if you do get a response form them.
i applied to the affordable housing scheme last december. since january ive been told 'you'll probably hear something next week' every time i ring up. ive been told that my application is fine and is being reviewed but apparently it takes over 3 months to look at an application form.
the council seems to me to be very slack in the allocation of this scheme. i really dont believe they're living up to their agreement that 15% of new builds are being made available at an afforable price. :mad:

clawsthefirst

affordable housing is the biggest waste of time...I applied almost 3years ago and every time i'd ring them they'd just tell me that 'nothing has come up' or to apply to a different county council. I've since gone through the shared ownership scheme, got my approval within a few days and have since bought my own place. so forget about the scam that is affordable housing and go straight to the shared ownership scheme

kermitdfrog

clawsthefirst wrote:

affordable housing is the biggest waste of time...I applied almost 3years ago and every time i'd ring them they'd just tell me that 'nothing has come up' or to apply to a different county council. I've since gone through the shared ownership scheme, got my approval within a few days and have since bought my own place. so forget about the scam that is affordable housing and go straight to the shared ownership scheme

Can I ask which council you went through?

I went to the SDCC offices last week to get some more info (have gotten loads here, thanks all, especially Beruthiel), and the woman at the desk did everything she could to discourage me from applying for the shared ownership, outside of actually tell me simply not to bother. Said that for what you can get that there's nothing out there anyway, and not worth my while. Talked up the Affordable housing.

Have to say, though, that being there did encourage me to look at the affordable housing - I never was enthusiastic about it before, and looked down on it, I must admit. I presumed it wouldnt be nice apartments, they'd be in bad areas etc. But seeing what they have coming up, and what prices (propertypath.ie is very useful for that) it opened my eyes. Its just a pity the other councils dont have something similar to properypath.ie, cos I'd love to see what, for example, Dublin City Council have available/coming soon.

Victor

www.propertypath.ie

emma6606

Hey guys,
Thanks for all the info! I checked out propertypath.ie and the houses & Apartments looked really nice! I was pleasently suprised
However It said that you could pay as little as €700 per month - I dont think I could afford that by myself, I though it was a bit cheaper than that, does anyone out there have an idea of payment amounts?
I had a look at Beruthiel's link, one of the guys reckons it would be between €500 - €600 which I could manage
Cheers
Emma

Victor

emma6606 wrote:

However It said that you could pay as little as €700 per month - I dont think I could afford that by myself,

But what size property among how many people?

Take into account tax relief and the Rent-a-Room Scheme.

emma6606

Hey Victor,
Yes your right, if I had someone in to rent a room that would help alot, if they paid 300 / 350 a month that would be a substantial lump off my payments!
Cool!
Oh, does anyone know if you could use the shared ownership scheme to buy one of the houses on the property path website - or is that just being cheeky? It would just mean that id have approval more quickly and wouldnt be waiting to hear from them for a year (hopefully). At least Id know... I wouldnt mind at all waiting to move in, but my nerves would be shot waiting to hear whether or not they would approve my application!
Emma

Victor

You may be able to do some overlap, but may not be able to do a complete overlap.

dalk

Applied for the Affordable Housing scheme a while back so this is my understanding of the scheme... (I could be wrong. Skimming T&C's is not my strong point).

Firstly, its a lottery. Your name is pulled from a "hat" so there is no guarantee that you will be offered anything.
Secondly, you are awarded a score based on income, circumstances (couple, single etc) and how long you have lived in Dublin. The correct income bracket (you have to be able to pay for the thing), the longer lived in Dublin, the better your chances of being offered something. Also, if you are single you will be probably only be offered a one bedroom apartment, a couple a double bed apartment, a family might be offered a house etc...

Don't want to discourage you, if your not in you cant win etc, but i wouldn't bank on it.

Also as far as I know, you can apply to a central Dublin body as well as to the local authorities themselves. My girlfriend took care of this so not too sure on the details.

clawsthefirst

kermitdfrog wrote:

Can I ask which council you went through?

I went to the SDCC offices last week to get some more info (have gotten loads here, thanks all, especially Beruthiel), and the woman at the desk did everything she could to discourage me from applying for the shared ownership, outside of actually tell me simply not to bother. Said that for what you can get that there's nothing out there anyway, and not worth my while. Talked up the Affordable housing.

Have to say, though, that being there did encourage me to look at the affordable housing - I never was enthusiastic about it before, and looked down on it, I must admit. I presumed it wouldnt be nice apartments, they'd be in bad areas etc. But seeing what they have coming up, and what prices (propertypath.ie is very useful for that) it opened my eyes. Its just a pity the other councils dont have something similar to properypath.ie, cos I'd love to see what, for example, Dublin City Council have available/coming soon.

I went through dublin city council for the affordable housing, I had 28 out of a possible 30 qualifying points and the last time I rang them in February they told me that i simply didnt earn enough to qualify for any places that they had coming in to them(I'm almost at the top of the qualifying bracket salary wise!) . So after hearing that I decided to find my own place and do shared ownership. But yeah I have to say you wont get anything for the amount that they'll lend you at the moment

msscarlet

Hi Clawsthefirst,

I applied for affordable housing back in August 2004. I was awarded 30 points the maximum. I was promoted shortly after applying so my income was quite good, almost at the maximum allowed by the scheme. After 1 year on the list I was awarded 31 points, I am earning €39k per year.
I rang Dublin City Council in February this year I was told that the same thing as you "Did I really think I could afford a mortgage?" I said to him that If I couldn't afford the mortgage what was the point of having an income limit of €40k pa. As I was almost on the maximum income allowable under the scheme. He asked me what my take home pay was per week when I said €570ish he was shocked, he immediately put me on hold, Turns out Dublin City Council never updated my details since my initial application. I was promoted since then and had received several pay increases. I even sent in Payslips. He did acknowledge receiving my payslips but told me that nobody bothered to update the database. I was furious I do not know how many draws I missed out on because of their incompetence.
When I asked him information on availabilty of apartments I was told to read a booklet that was coming out in April. The booklet came out in May, this booklet states that a lottery is held to allocate affordable housing.
I have received nothing to say that the scheme I applied for which gave additional points for length of time on panel has been abolished. I foolishly believed that I would get an offer of property soon.
I recently delivered my preference form to Dublin City Council by hand. I brought it to the Civil Offices, WoodQuay before work as the Housing section was not open I left it with a receptionist at the front desk. The following day I rang to see if they had received by form. By chance I happened to get the Manager she said it wasn't possible to confirm if they had received my form. I asked her was the old scheme abolished she said yeah its all explained in the booklet. When I asked her where in the booklet? She wasn't able to answer. Every answer she gave was in an extremely smart alec way.

I feel I have been deceived by Dublin City Council. There seems to be a total lack of transparency with Dublin City Council.
For example residents in Dublins Docklands seem to have a bias shown towards them whereby 50% of affordable units in Dublin Docklands goes to residents from that area. That would be fair if bias was shown toward other areas. I live in Dublin 12 and to the best of my knowledge not one affordable home has been offered here.

I am going to apply to South Dublin County Council and Fingal County Council as they seem to offer properties based on a first come first served basis which seems to be much fairer. Two friends of mine seem to have had more luck with SDCC one friend applied last June (05) and got her keys in Oct (05) her brother applied to SDCC last January and got his keys in May this year. They seem to be far more professional then the staff in DCC. South Dublin CC website www.propertypath.ie is very useful and shows where affordable housing may be made available.
On the other hand the old forms i.e. the scheme I applied for are still available on the internet from Dublin City Council.

Good Luck to everybody that applied to Dublin City Council. I would love to hear if somebody got an offer.

Jonnie_Onion

Competely agree with the above post. Depending on who I talked to, I have received conflicting info from DCC in the past.
I'll be applying to Fingal and SDCC as soon as I have the required savings, there's so many people on the DCC list now that the odds don't look too good for the lottery. Of course, I wouldn't be complaining if my name came up!

SarahMc

Oh, does anyone know if you could use the shared ownership scheme to buy one of the houses on the property path website - or is that just being cheeky?

Its not cheeky at all, and quite common to use both schemes to buy the one property.

Drapper

lots of info here www.affordablehome.ie

might be of use !"

msscarlet

Hi to all those that have applied to Dublin City Council.

Has anybody approached their local councillors or TDs to complain about the schemes?
Maybe if they get enough queries as to why there are so few properties available? Why there is a bias for affordable housing shown towards applicants in the docklands? Why Dublin City Council is not doing more to ensure that government lands such as those at Harcourt Terrace and Broc House Clonskeagh was not kept in Dublin City Council hands and used to build affordable housing in the City.
Instead this land was swopped for affordable housing in South Dublin County Council! While the affordable housing list in Dublin continues to grow. Last year according to figures from the Dept of the Environment there were 138 affordable units acquired under PART V between 1st January – 31st December 2005 in the Dublin City Council Area. There was also 67 social housing acquired in the same year under part V. This amounts to the grand total of 205 acquired housing units under part V.
Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2002. Part V allows Dublin City Council to require developers to set aside up to 20% of new developments of five or more houses for social or affordable housing.
If 20% relates to 205 units. That would imply that there were only 1025 properties built in Dublin City Council in the last year!

Sorry to bore you all with the figures.

Can I suggest that all of us applicants write to Dublin City Council, your local councillors and TDs complain about the lack of progress with affordable housing. Ask for increased loan limits for the shared ownership scheme so that they are realistic! Just checked myhome.ie there are very few properties available for €250,000! And thats just the asking price the majority of properties go for 20-50k over their asking price. Are the people who set these limits living in the real world?

Who knows if we all shout they might just change something!

Drapper

msscarlet wrote:

Hi to all those that have applied to Dublin City Council.

Has anybody approached their local councillors or TDs to complain about the schemes?
Maybe if they get enough queries as to why there are so few properties available? Why there is a bias for affordable housing shown towards applicants in the docklands? Why Dublin City Council is not doing more to ensure that government lands such as those at Harcourt Terrace and Broc House Clonskeagh was not kept in Dublin City Council hands and used to build affordable housing in the City.
Instead this land was swopped for affordable housing in South Dublin County Council! While the affordable housing list in Dublin continues to grow. Last year according to figures from the Dept of the Environment there were 138 affordable units acquired under PART V between 1st January – 31st December 2005 in the Dublin City Council Area. There was also 67 social housing acquired in the same year under part V. This amounts to the grand total of 205 acquired housing units under part V.
Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2002. Part V allows Dublin City Council to require developers to set aside up to 20% of new developments of five or more houses for social or affordable housing.
If 20% relates to 205 units. That would imply that there were only 1025 properties built in Dublin City Council in the last year!

Sorry to bore you all with the figures.

Can I suggest that all of us applicants write to Dublin City Council, your local councillors and TDs complain about the lack of progress with affordable housing. Ask for increased loan limits for the shared ownership scheme so that they are realistic! Just checked myhome.ie there are very few properties available for €250,000! And thats just the asking price the majority of properties go for 20-50k over their asking price. Are the people who set these limits living in the real world?

Who knows if we all shout they might just change something!

Broc house and HArcourt Terrace are not in the ownership of DCC, it is owned by the AHP. Broc has recenlty exchanged for a number of units and Harcourt terrace went for 129 units in SDCC, harcourt terrace phase two will be launched soon.

Also, your figures on PArt V are a little dated, you might read here http://www.affordablehome.ie/home/index.aspx?id=7

Also, the partnership agreement has set out a plan for 15,000 affordable homes ! chase Des Gheraty not DCC or local reps. Its his remit to deliver.

Also Shared ownership and affordable homes are two seperate things.

Affordable Homes are homes sold at a discount to market price taking the salaries of individiuals on Board (50k single and 90k joint). There are Shared Ownership and Affordable Lists.

Shared ownership works off a seperate multiple !

gurramok

msscarlet wrote:

Hi to all those that have applied to Dublin City Council.

Maybe if they get enough queries as to why there are so few properties available? Why there is a bias for affordable housing shown towards applicants in the docklands?

The idea is to keep docklands communities together, a 1 bed apt on my girlfriends street in Docklands in goin for 385k, hardly afforable for a first time docklander.
Most local properties should be for local people then if there ain't filled, then outsiders should take them imho.

msscarlet wrote:

Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2002. Part V allows Dublin City Council to require developers to set aside up to 20% of new developments of five or more houses for social or affordable housing.
If 20% relates to 205 units. That would imply that there were only 1025 properties built in Dublin City Council in the last year!

It is a scandal that developers are allowed to pay off their 20% to the council rather than provide the 20% for actual housing.
You could be waiting years for a DCC home to be available, i know someone who waited 4-5yrs for a 2 bed apt in East Wall and eventually got it 2 yrs ago.
My cousin only waited 6 months for SDCC apt in Tallaght last year, my other cousin applied to DCC and is one of those on the affordable list now waiting a year so far, a massive waiting list for Docklands hence didnt go for it so instead is in a lottery for one in Finglas in a few months time, its just pure luck if his name comes out.
Both originally from docklands but couldn't go local due to massive demand and good old lottery system.

About 70 or 80 i think it was last year of those affordable units were built behind my estate in Finglas last year with much pomp in press by minister Ahern, another 67 being built across road the from me this year 'on sale'(really lotto) plus another 20 about half mile away already allocated.
Most of those units were allocated locally so if DCC dont build any in your area, your screwed.
Not a hope i'm going for any of them due to the lottery so i recently applied to Fingal instead(sdcc too far from my roots), much fairer system with a greater chance of finding somewhere to live.

Drapper wrote:

Also Shared ownership and affordable homes are two seperate things.

Affordable Homes are homes sold at a discount to market price taking the salaries of individiuals on Board (50k single and 90k joint). There are Shared Ownership and Affordable Lists.

Shared ownership works off a seperate multiple !

Also to add, an affordable can be bought via shared ownership hence it confuses newbies to the process!

BC

Just a couple of points on the affordable housing - DCC no longer works on a points system, its a lottery, everyone has the same chance. Also they have increased the income threshold to 65,000 euro.

msscarlet

Drapper

I took these figures directly from The Department of Environment Website. Mr Noel Ahern Minister for housing has provided these figures. These seem to be fact. There was only 138 affordable housing under Part V in the Dublin City Council Area. or check out http://www.environ.ie/DOEI/doeipub.nsf/0/daac160e1d73c27d80256f0f003dbc05/$FILE/2005 social and affordable housing tables.pdf

The Dept of Environment website shows that there were 982 affordable houses under PART V and 237 under the affordable housing 1999 scheme for the whole country.

Someones figures aren' adding up!

The site that you have directed me too shows that last year there was 2800 affordable houses nationally. Thats on average 110 affordable homes per county in the Republic!

As for the partnership figures the old Sustaining Progress promised 10000 affordable housing units! How many of these have been delivered.
Latest Partnership Agreement promises more new properties! :rolleyes:


I know there is a difference between Affordable Housing and Shared Ownership! I am merely suggesting that if Shared Ownership limits were increased so that they reflect current House prices then people could avail of this offer, choose where they wanted to buy a property and come of the Affordable Housing List. As it stands the numbers applying for Shared Ownership are falling as the limits have not increase in line with House price inflation!

Also Gurramok
Property everywhere is expensive, but there a large developments going up in the Docklands area which just aren't happening all over the city.
I have worked in the Docklands for the last 8 years. I have applied for affordable housing with the Dublin Docklands Development Association, and also with Togail Housing Association. According to Ruairi Quinn 50% of affordable housing in the Docklands area goes to people from the Area. Togail Housing Association has had draws in the past where you had to live on certain roads in Finglas to qualify.

Both of these agencies have operated schemes for locals only.

I could argue that where I live there has not been 1 affordable property in the Crumlin, Drimnagh, Kimmage or Walkinstown area! House prices here have gone through the roof. Example small 2 bed house with no bathroom needs a lot of work gone for €390,000. The majority of old council houses go for approx €430,000+. I too would like to create a sense of community and stay in the area where my family and friends live! If the docklanders can have it! Why can't the same apply to the other citizens of Dublin that live outside the Docklands area!

Drapper

easy on the fonts ............

There has been a substatianal amount of AHI and PArt V properties to the market !..Charles Street, Fatima Mansions, Thomas STreet, Infirmary ROad and a few listed in the Docklands to name a few.......... 1800+ were provded in the Greater Dublin Area etween 2002 and 2005. There reamainder in the Counties.

BTW Limerick never got a single property under Part V, LMCC took cash and lands ! (which the Act allows) and which Developers not Councils exploited until the 2002 Amendment.

Also, dont fell hard done by becuase you can't live in YOUR community! I like many other were not given handouts from the Gov by way of an affordable house (a nice way to say grant towards a propery by the Gov).... Sometimes you got to settle for wath your given or can afford in life !! Take it from me many commute from as far away as Athlone here on Boards becuase they cannot afford to live in Dublin.

johnjay

Well, at last I almost have everything together for my applications. I sent off my DCC application yesterday and am just waiting for a bank statement to send with the other 2 (Fingal and SDCC)

I am not holding out much hope for DCC. I live outside the area , and from what I see that makes it hopeless. I also earn a mere 33k a year, so I don’t think I could afford "Affordable Housing"! I know myself that I could easily pay repayments of a €250k mortgage, but it wouldn’t fit in the "35% of Nett income" rule.

Some of the properties on SDCC's website (www.propertypath.ie) look very nice, but I think its out of date. I know for example that the properties they have in Lucan were built and finished a few months ago, so I imagine they are already gone. I took a drive out around Belfry in Tallaght (sorry, "Citywest" ) and Belgard Square last week. I'd certainly not say "no" to either of these - though I get the feeling I missed the boat on them.

Everyone tells me that Fingal are the easiest to get a place from. Although Balbriggan and Lusk are both nice towns, I just don’t think I would live that far out - where I work would mean at least 3 hours commute every day, and I just don’t think I could handle that long-term. They do have the odd property available in Dublin 15, Swords, Portmarnock, Baldoyle etc - but I'd say there are as hard to get as hens-teeth. There is talks of this whole Meakstown thing - I haven’t looked out there yet, but from what I read it sounds to be a Ghetto in the making - but maybe I am wrong.

So all I can do is sit-and-wait. If there is anyone else in the same boat, I would love to hear from them. Or if there is anyone in a more advanced stage than me. And of course I would be very happy to hear from anyone who already has a "Happy Ending"

J

Drapper

Fingal is the place to get properties the fastest! you can forget about DCC

johnjay

so I hear - but hey - one must try!

If Fingal want to give me something close to the M50, then I wont stop them!

jdivision

DCC has been useless - they're taking the money from everybody. As for shared ownership, why would you want the council to have a stake in your place and for you to rent it off them. In a few years you would have to buy it back off them anyway and at a higher price. Much better to get a tenant in and use it to pay down your mortage. Also don't forget about mortgage interest relief and if you earn less than e25,000 you qualify for a mortgage subsidy as well.

jdivision

msscarlet wrote:

Drapper


As for the partnership figures the old Sustaining Progress promised 10000 affordable housing units! How many of these have been delivered.
Latest Partnership Agreement promises more new properties! :rolleyes:

!

Completely right, the Government did the usual thing of announcing it, doing nothing, changing it, announcing it again and well... doing nothing. Most of these apartments were to be built on three sites, one of which was Gormanstown in Co Meath. Others slip my mind. If memory serves no planning application has been submitted on them but then Noel Ahern is the biggest joke of a minister not name Martin Cullen:rolleyes:

jdivision

johnjay wrote:

Everyone tells me that Fingal are the easiest to get a place from. Although Balbriggan and Lusk are both nice towns, I just don’t think I would live that far out - where I work would mean at least 3 hours commute every day, and I just don’t think I could handle that long-term. They do have the odd property available in Dublin 15, Swords, Portmarnock, Baldoyle etc - but I'd say there are as hard to get as hens-teeth. There is talks of this whole Meakstown thing - I haven’t looked out there yet, but from what I read it sounds to be a Ghetto in the making - but maybe I am wrong.

So all I can do is sit-and-wait. If there is anyone else in the same boat, I would love to hear from them. Or if there is anyone in a more advanced stage than me. And of course I would be very happy to hear from anyone who already has a "Happy Ending"

J

Johnjay you posted this on another forum (humanities?) too and I posted there about my experience with Meakstown (positive)

johnjay

jdivision wrote:

Johnjay you posted this on another forum (humanities?) too and I posted there about my experience with Meakstown (positive)

Thanks J

I have no idea how it got into humanities - I only posted once, but thanks for your reply anyway!

msscarlet

Hello to all the applicants who returned the preference form to Dublin City Council. I believe over 4500 forms were sent out to people on the list for 200 properties. Just want to wish everyone good luck!. I've heard that draw should be held this week! DCC will only contact the lucky applicants! I'd love to hear if DCC's affordable housing is working for anyone! Please post message if you are an affordable housing Lottery Winner!

Fingers Crossed!