McVerry trust to repair city home

A long-term empty property in the Cork city is to be renovated and then rented out to the homeless.

Peter McVerry Trust, the national housing and homeless charity, is urging the owners of long-term empty properties in Cork to take up the Government’s Repair and Leasing Scheme.

The charity revealed on Tuesday that it has recently signed up the first property under the Repair and Leasing property in Cork city and is hoping that it will be the first of many.

The refurbishment works have just started and the Peter McVerry Trust aim to have tenants in place before the end of the year. The new tenants will be coming from Cork City Council’s housing waiting list.

Francis Doherty, Head of Communications at the charity said: “People can benefit from an interest-free loan, of €40,000 – €50,000, to cover the cost of works. The scheme means that in most cases the cost of the works is initially paid upfront by approved housing bodies (AHBs), like Peter McVerry Trust, who can also arrange the contractor and manage and support the future tenants.

“For the property owner, they get their property upgraded, a guaranteed long term rental income and the cost of the interest-free loan is simply deducted from the rent over a time period of 10-20 years.”

Mr Doherty also pointed out that owners of vacant or derelict properties can also sell their properties to the charity if they don’t want to lease them.

“We find that some owners simply want to sell the property but given its condition, it’s not of interest to first time buyers or investors. However, for Peter McVerry Trust we can draw down government funds to refurbish the buildings and put them back into use as social housing.”