Housing and homeless charity, the Peter McVerry Trust, has announced that it is to increase its housing stock in Limerick.
The Trust, headquartered in Dublin, has had a presence here since 2016.
At a Business Breakfast, hosted by Pat and Una McDonagh’s Castletroy Park Hotel and at which Limerick Senior Hurling Manager John Kiely was guest speaker, Trust CEO Pat Doyle stated: “We have been active in Limerick for almost six years. We have continued to grow and strengthen our relationship with Limerick City and County Council, and we are very much focused on the delivery of social housing, growing our tenant supports and working on employment activation programmes in Limerick.”
He continued: “We are investing more in Limerick and have recently agreed to increase the office space on O’Connell Street to facilitate the increased staff numbers. We are also progressing a number of important social housing projects, all of which are regenerating vacant buildings or infill sites. These are not just in Limerick city but also in areas such as Askeaton and Newcastle West.
“This also points to a significant investment by Peter McVerry Trust in Limerick and to helping tackle homelessness in the county as we work alongside Pat Daly, CEO of Limerick City and County Council, and his team.”
For his part, the keynote speaker heartily endorsed the charity’s work of inclusion, fairness and the like, and said: “For Limerick to thrive into the future, every part of it, and every community, must thrive. There can’t be two Limericks – there is only one Limerick.”
Around 350 (at €50) people, many of whom were local business leaders, attended the event.
Separately, as part of the Government’s Incremental Purchase Scheme, low earners can now apply to purchase an affordable home from Limerick City and County Council at Woodfield Manor in Newcastle West. The price range is from just less than €100,000 to €155,000. The closing date for applications is Friday, April 29th.
Meanwhile, a Sunday Independent analysis of The Vacant Site Register shows that there are nine such sites across Limerick, with a value of €13.5 million, which if developed could be used to build hundreds of homes. The majority of vacant sites across Ireland are owned by developers and investment companies but much is also in the possession of local authorities.
The Government’s ‘Housing for All’ Plan, announced last Autumn, sets out a path of delivering 12,000 new homes in Limerick before the end of 2030, including 3,600 social homes, 1,400 affordable purchase homes, and around 700 cost rental homes, with the rest to be delivered by the private sector.