MAI N FE ATURE
Can H o u s in g f o r A ll d e liv e r s o c ia l h o u s in g s o lu t io n s ? SHARON COSGROVE, CEO, Oaklee Housing, believes Housing for All has a lot to offer for social housing development, but there are several important issues including skills shortages and planning - to be addressed if the plan is to succeed. Mimi Murray reports. Sharon Cosgrove, CEO, Oaklee Housing.
H
ousing for All, the government’s housing delivery plan up to 2030, is a multi-annual, multi-billion euro plan aimed at improving Ireland’s housing system and delivering more homes of all types for people with different housing needs. Part of the plan is to provide more than 10,000 social homes each year, with an annual average of 9,500 new-build social housing homes up to 2026. Oaklee Housing is an approved housing body (AHB) that has been in existence for 20 years. Over that time, it has developed
and delivered housing across 18 local authority areas throughout the country, initially starting in the border counties. Its geographic footprint now reaches from the north-east into the midlands and along the south coast, with a substantial presence in Dublin. Developments mainly include family housing, with a few schemes that see Oaklee work with care providers or specialist support providers. Oaklee is one AHB that will be expected to deliver a good chunk of what is in the Housing for All plan. Sharon Cosgrove, CEO, Oaklee Housing, has been with the charity since 2016. In that
time, she has seen it grow substantially year on year. Five years ago, the stock level under its management stood at 600 homes; that figure now stands at about 2,100 units. “It has grown at a rate of about 200 units a year up to last year. In the past year, we have been delivering some of our own housing stock, and also we are part of the consortium on the first PPP social housing bundle, ‘Social Housing PPP Bundle 1’. We have since taken into management the 543 homes that were delivered in the consortium. John Sisk & Son delivered this development, and we’re the tenancy management company for
irishconstructionnews 21 December 2021
