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Strabane housing shortage could reach ‘crisis’ point

Thursday, 1 July 2010

A STRABANE estate agent has warned that housing shortages in Strabane could culminate in a crisis if the Housing Executive continues to "evade" the issue.
Staff at Remax say they have not had a rental property on their books for the last two months, despite receiving calls from clients every day desperate for accommodation.
In Ballymagorry, Newtownstewart and Castlederg, anyone looking to rent can choose from a range of properties. In Strabane town, however, estate agents are faced with a very different scenario.
One landlord who advertised a house to rent in the town recently ended up with 60 appointments for prospective tenants, Eileen McGarrigle, from Remax, said.
“The Housing Executive are saying we don't need more housing. But we are seeing the complete opposite," she said. "The Housing Executive contacted us [recently] looking for emergency housing and we didn't have one house to rent. And that's since two months ago.
“We are seeing landlords who had 60 appointments to rent one house, 60 phonecalls in the town. We had a young fella who moved out of a house. He was on to us two months ago and he has been on the phone once a day to see if we have anything. He got a house last week, a four bedroom house, and he's got four kids.
“Every other tenant is looking and you are saying look in the papers. There is nothing more we can do for clients. We see if investors have any properties that could be used but other than that..."
The collapse of the property market and subsequent restrictions on lending, which continue to keep first-time buyers off the property market, have caused the demand, Ms McGarrigle says.
“The demand is so high because the people looking to buy a house don't have the 10, 15 per cent deposit, so they are renting in the short term."
Housing stress
The Housing Executive has said that there were 43 more people on its housing list in March than at the same time last year. A further 25 people are in housing stress - deemed as being in greatest need - than in 2009. Of those in the greatest need, single people dominate, making up more than half of the list.
“There has been an increase in the number of applicants on the waiting list and in housing stress," a spokesperson for the Housing Executive said on Monday. "Single persons dominate this waiting list and account for 53 per cent of all applicants in housing stress as at March 2010."
The agency also has 24 more homeless people on its books.
“The reasons for applicants presenting as homeless are largely due to increased incidents of marriage/sharing breakdown, relationship/family disputes, loss of private rented accommodation and unsuitable accommodation," the statement added.
“The Housing Executive uses a number of sources when emergency accommodation is required. We primarily aim to use accommodation from our own housing stock. However, depending on the needs of the individual, the type of accommodation that they require may not always be available.
“We hold a list of private landlords and we would approach them to see if they would have suitable temporary accommodation available. When these sources have been exhausted, we may contact local estate agents to see if they would have the appropriate accommodation required to meet the individuals needs."
However, the agency appears to refute the view that need for housing is soaring in Strabane, instead repeating the line it has given over recent years.
“The annual housing needs assessment identifies only a small need over the next five years," a spokesperson said.
For Eileen McGarrigle, the Housing Executive is "evading" the issue of lengthening shortages.
“The people we have coming in may not be on the Housing Executive's list. They may be just going to people like ourselves but there is a demand there. I think they [the Housing Executive] are evading the issue that we do need more social housing in Strabane."
And with rising demand will come rising rents, she said.
“The demand is there and rent is going to go up in price per month. Our first couple of properties have gone up very, very recently but it is a slight rise. But to ignore... that the demand is there... Landlords will see that and they are going to put the rent up.
“There is practically no social housing in Strabane [so] what are people going to do? How are they going to manage? Where are they going to go?"

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