Council seeks longterm rentals in Athlone to tackle 1,300 housing list

Westmeath County Council is currently seeking houses in Athlone under the newly launched longterm leasing scheme in a bid to tackle its hefty housing list, which currently stands at 1,343. The Government has allocated funding in 2010 for local authorities and approved housing bodies to lease or rent 4,500 residential properties from private owners. These properties will be used to provide accommodation to people who are currently on the council's housing list. Properties must be of good quality and can be new or previously occupied. While the council will accept applications from across the county and needs houses in all villages throughout Westmeath, a council spokesman said this week that the big demand is in Athlone and Mullingar, where there are hefty waiting lists. Councils across the country are moving away from building or buying to accommodate those on the housing list and instead are moving towards longterm leasing of houses. This provides and alternative way of increasing the council's stock of social housing and also an attempt to fill vacant houses in developments that have sprung up over the last decade. The council spokesman confirmed that there has been a fair amount of interest from homeowners to date, and it has generally been from owners of one-off units rather than developers with vacant housing estates. The properties will be used by the council to house individuals and families who qualify for social housing support for that length of time. A rent equivalent to 80% of the market rent would be paid to the owner.