Council look to roll out emergency accommodation hubs in towns around Mayo

HOMELESS accommodation hubs similar to one in operation in Charlestown may be rolled out in towns across Mayo to deal with the number of homeless applications, a senior council executive stated.

People in Mayo who currently present as homeless to Mayo County Council are sent to the council's emergency accommodation hub location based in Charlestown. The hub can accommodate up to 100 people but the decision to transfer homeless people to the east of the county has not been welcomed in some quarters.

Members of the Castlebar Municipal District recently agreed not to send young families from the Castlebar area to the Charlestown hub. Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne raised the matter at yesterday's monthly meeting of Mayo County Council, saying that it was disgraceful to move children away from their school.

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“Imagine your children going to school in their local school and they become homeless through no fault of their own and the next school they have to go to is 30 miles away. That is disgraceful. I want Tusla to investigate the impact this has on children of this policy of removing people from within their area when they become homeless,” he told the meeting.

In response to the comments by Cllr Kilcoyne, Tom Gilligan, Director Services with responsibility for housing in Mayo County Council said that in the long-term they wanted more accommodation hubs in order not to take children out of their area.

“It isn't the policy at the moment in relation to using hotels and B&Bs for the simple reason that hotels and B&Bs are not sustainable or suitable in particular in relation to children.

“In relation to using hubs such as Charlestown Lodge ... we are certainly looking at additional homeless hubs in other areas of the county. I do agree it is not sustainable or compatible to be moving people from one part of the county to the other. That is the short-term and in the long-term we are looking to establish additional homes. We will be looking out to get those properties in the right place, in the right condition and at the right price as well,” he said.

Housing target

Mr Gilligan also commented that the housing target set down by the Government for each local authority is not a minimum number and Mayo County Council intends to 'go beyond' its target and 'that is what we are trying to do'.

A number of councillors in the Westport and Castlebar voiced their annoyance that homes which were purchased by the TII as part of the construction of the new N5 dual carriageway between the towns have been left vacant despite the project being completed.

However, Mr Gilligan said that the local authority has agreed a figure with the TII to take over the properties and work has commenced on them to bring them back into use as soon as possible.

“Apologies for the delay, a lot of it was out of our hands. It was a priority and a focus to get that back with us and rest assured we are working to turn them around as quickly as possible,” he said.