Dublin City Council's controversial plan to offer its stock of almost 16,500 council flats for sale to its tenants will be outlined at a conference in Dublin tomorrow. Olivia Kelly reports.
City manager Mr John Fitzgerald and assistant city manger Mr Brendan Kenny are among the speakers who will explain the buyout scheme to tenants' groups and other interested bodies.
The conference will also discuss proposals to transfer the housing stock from the council to housing associations and the use of public private partnerships (PPPs) to redevelop council-owned sites.
A substantial number of tenants have expressed interest in buying their flats since the scheme was first mooted by the council in January, officials said. However, tenants' organisations and local councillors are concerned that it would have a damaging impact on local communities.
"Selling off council flats is a radical shift for the council as a landlord and it's a policy change that is taking place without the councillors' input. There's been no adequate debate on it," Independent councillor Mr Mick Rafferty said.
Cllr Rafferty, who is also a spokesman for Tenants First, a group established in January to represent local authority tenants, said a shift away from tenancy to ownership would devastate the supply of social housing in the city.
"Nobody seems to have thought about how this will seriously impact on the housing stock. Within a few generations, there will be no public housing left in the city," he said.
While a small number of tenants might be interested in buying their flats, for most, it would be beyond their reach, he said. PPP-managed complexes made tenants dependant on private arrangements and housing associations would be less answerable than the council.
"I think the problem with all of these things is that the tenants are not having an adequate say in what's happening," he said.
The council would be in a position to offer flats for sale almost immediately, an official said. However, the Minister for the Environment must first approve the scheme.