Homeswap pilot to continue

Just four pairs of council tenants have swapped homes in the past year as part of a pilot project run by City Hall.

That’s according to a new report furnished to city councillors this week after Independent councillor Thomas Moloney asked for an update on the Homeswapper mutual exchange system.The pilot for social housing tenants of Cork City Council and Dublin City Council was launched on 4 November 2019, with the intention of operating for 12 months.

The report, seen by the Cork Independent, said: “Currently, there are 187 registered users of the service and to date five pairs of tenants have matched successfully on the site. Four of these five have completed their inter-transfers, and the processing of the fifth is at an advanced stage.”

Cork City Council said it is continuing to engage with Homeswapper UK to facilitate an ongoing review of the operation of the system and to identify opportunities to raise awareness of the system and grow engagement from registered users.

The report continued: “The intention was to review engagement by tenants during the initial one year period, and if the pilot was deemed successful, it was envisaged that there could be potential to roll it out to all local authority tenants in the Republic of Ireland.

“Unfortunately, it was found that engagement declined significantly in the earlier part of this year, most likely as a result of the Covid-19 restrictions. Particularly for older tenants who wish to downsize who may have been cocooning, it may not have been an appropriate time to initiate a change in their housing circumstances.”

The report from the Housing Directorate also said it was agreed, given the unprecedented circumstances, that it would not be appropriate to assess the long term viability of the scheme based on the engagement with the pilot to date.

It has been agreed to extend the pilot for another year to allow “for more robust data to be collated for review,” the report said.

Domestic violence

Councillors were also told by a City Hall official this week that its housing team would be open to meeting with Mná Feasa, a domestic violence support service.

This came to light after Independent councillor Kenneth O’Flynn asked for training to be given by Mná Feasa to help the housing department better understand relationships and domestic violence, where city council tenants are at risk.A housing spokesperson said: “Staff would have extensive experience and ability gained through their work in housing and from training provided to them to handle cases of a sensitive and complicated nature. The Housing Department is open to working with Mná Feasa and will make contact with them to see what supports/training they can offer.”