Council to cut funding for tenant liaison positions on regeneration projects

DUBLIN CITY Council is to cut funding used to pay tenant representatives in three social housing estates where public-private partnerships (PPPs) for their redevelopment collapsed two years ago.

Four workers – tenants of flat complexes at O’Devaney Gardens, Dominick Street and Croke Villas – had been working as liaisons between the council and the other tenants in relation to the regeneration projects.

O’Devaney Gardens and Dominick Street were to have been redeveloped with a mix of private and social housing by Bernard McNamara, but the deal with the council collapsed in May 2008. The council later that year decided to rebuild the social housing in these estates. Planning applications for both estates will be lodged by year end, the council said.

A separate PPP with Bennett Developments for the redevelopment of Croke Villas collapsed in December 2009. The council last month said it was “extremely unlikely that Croke Villas will be redeveloped in the foreseeable future”.

Assistant city manager Martin Kavanagh said the workers were not employed directly by the council and it did not have formal contracts with any of them.

The council had been providing about €126,000 a year in “community technical aid” for local residents to engage in the regeneration. However, as planning applications would be soon lodged for O’Devaney Gardens and Dominick Street, it was the “logical and most appropriate time to discontinue funding”. The council continued to provide “considerable support” to residents in its housing schemes.

Sinn Féin vice-president Mary Lou McDonald said the council was “short-sighted and penny-pinching” and has called for the restoration of funding for the positions. “I’m very annoyed Dublin City Council seem to have the view that the regeneration workers are just part of some elaborate consultation process, when in reality they are the glue that keeps these communities together.”

The council’s statement that it was an appropriate time to discontinue funding because the projects were soon to go forwards to planning “doesn’t hold water”, she said, given Croke Villas still had no redevelopment plan in place.

The workers remained a vital resource during the demolition and construction phases of these developments to ensure that communities were informed about each stage, she said.

“Theses people are on salaries of about €17,000 each. It’s by no means big bucks in the context of these projects . . . A lot of tenants don’t believe these projects are ever going to happen. By taking away this funding, the council is sending out the wrong message.”