Carbery Housing Association



Name:	Carbery Housing Association (Coiste Tithe Chaibre)
Official Abbreviation:	CHA
Description:	CHA was set up in September 2001 on the initiative of residents in Baltimore (a coastal town). Through local fund-raising, a non-profit company was registered, charitable status was obtained with the Inland Revenue, and approved voluntary housing body status with the Department of Environment and Local Government. It is now based in nearby Skibbereen. CHA is a membership organisation, where anyone (including prospective tenants) can join as member on payment of a small yearly fee. The association currently has over 50 paid up members. Every year, the Membership elects an Executive Committee of 11 members every year to direct its work. The Association has three Officers, a Chairman, and Treasurer and a Secretary. All positions are voluntary. Since its inception, and with relatively little publicity, CHA has had over 150 applications for housing from people looking for social housing. These application have been for the major towns, Bantry, Skibbereen, Clonakility, and Baltimore, and some for the more rural villages. Most of these applications (53%) come from single persons or couples, the rest are from families of different sizes. Some applicants have been on the Council housing list for over 10 years, without response or explanation. 28% of applicants are unemployed, and 33% employed. The rest are self-employed, in government training or employment schemes, students, or in receipt of disability allowance. Most applications have25% of applicants would join vocational training projects if they were offered. 62% of applicants would support recycling initiatives, 37% in permaculture initiatives and 34% in childcare projects, linked to social housing developments, if they were offered. In 2002, CHA secured part funding under the European Commission’s ALTENER II Programme to develop a feasibility study for sustainable social housing based in West Cork. RENEASE (Renewable Energy against Social Exclusion) was part-funded y the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DoEH&LG) and the Department of Social Community and Family Affairs. As part of RENEASE, we organised a Launch of the Project, a Conference that brought together prospective tenants, council officers and building experts. A Report from the Project was posted on the Association’s Web Page. We also organised a series of training sessions for clients on sustainable building, and a study visit to Gwalia Housing Association in Wales, for a group of Cork County Council officers and community representatives. Gwalia manages over 5,500 homes and works to a “sustainable” development brief. CHA commissioned an Outline Planning application for a pilot sustainable development at Kinaithfineen, Bantry. This involved the construction of 31 units of housing designed on bio-climatic principles and incorporating geothermal renewable energy use and waster water recycling. Unfortunately, at this stage CHA was unable to secure land zoned for housing for this Project, so the the feasibility was based on a site that required re-zoning, and we were not able to secure the re-zoning, A second project was then proposed, on similar sustainability principles, on a site owned by Cork County Council in Bantry (The Slip), which had been indetified as suitable by Council Officers. However, local Councillors were unwilling to support the transfer of land to CHA. In 2008 the local housing & building market collapsed. Altough this meant that land was no available for buildings at rduced prices, there was no longer any social housing funding available for this purpose. The housing market crash left an estaimated 345,000 empty hopuses in Ireland, and estimated 171,000 being available for use, but having no buyers. At the same time the housing list natioanlly grew to 80,000 hoouseholds. CHA in the face of this has decided to turn its attention to use of empty properties, and is working to secure leases on existing empty houses. These will mostly have poor energy performace, so our technical priority (apart from making properties) is increasingf energy effficiency through retrofit and the incorrtation of renewables. However, we currently have no resources at present to embark on this new Project. We are looking to preare technical briefs for repair and retrofit of existing properties, and technologies, hopefully based on local and natural materials, for insulation and extenal enveloping,while meeting planning and building regulations. We would also like to publicise the initiative, so that we get the required local support. CHA has been established by ordinary people West Cork area to work towards a sustainable and environmentally aware approach to social housing. It has started out with no other resources than the commitment and good will of its members. To date, it has received some support from the DoEH&LG and from the European Commission, but very little support from loac authorities to date. We are working to change this, and expect to soon see an effective regional partnership that will allow the positive aspirations of these and other households that need sustainable shelter to become reality.
Focus and activities:	Carbery Housing Association (CHA) is a member controlled housing association with charitable status, registered as an Approved Housing Body (AHB) with the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DEHLG). CHA was set up in 2001 by local residents in West Cork, who wanted to help people who could not afford to buy or rent good quality housing on the open market, in particular young local people who had to move away from home to secure affordable homes. Since its creation, CHA has made several attempts to redress this by developing community-friendly housing for rent in West Cork, while at the same time designing these homes to be energy efficient and to incorporate community amenities. CHA made two Planning applications for sustainable social housing projects in Bantry, one of them on a Cork County Council site that it still undeveloped today. We also made several approaches to Town Councils for support. None of our proposals have been supported by Cork County Council or the Town Councils. During this period Council Housing Lists nationally and locally have increased dramatically, from 60,000 households nationally, and around 9,000 in the Cork region in 2006, to 80,000 households nationally and around 12,000 for respectively in 2010. Ironically, around 70,000 new private homes were built every year from 2002 to 2007, and this has generated an apparent “oversupply” of houses. A UCD study, meticulously researched but source of some controversy, reported in early 2010 that there were 345,000 empty homes in Ireland, and event after subtracting homes that were “justifiably” empty (such as holiday homes, natural voids and houses in need of repair) there were still around 170,000 homes that were empty and available for sale. Because we believe this to be a major issue that is not receiving sufficient attention, CHA has set up a Campaign to Use Buildings (CUBE) (www.facebook.com/cubecampaign) We aim to work for national action around this issue. We believe that the first step if for Government to draw up a National Empty Buildings Strategy, aimed at bringing in as many properties as possible in every region through a series of local actions. Part of this strategy must involve support and development of housing associations and co-ops like CHA that can work with the community to bring these properties into use, not only for housing, but also as premises for local arts and craft projects, community and environmental initiatives.
Contact:
Address:	The Wooden House, Rossnagoose, Skibbereen None County Cork Ireland
Website:	http://www.carberyhousing.eu
Email:	office@carberyhousing.eu
Phone:	(+353) 28 21890
Affiliation:
Type of organisation:	Association/umbrella organisation
Partner category:	NGO