Two-bed cost-rental apartments in Clúid scheme in Cork to cost €1,100 per month
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New cost-rental homes in Cork city will cost tenants €1,100 per month, it has been revealed.
Clúid Housing will open tenancy applications on Tuesday, July 19, for 73 new cost-rental homes in Lancaster Gate, located on the banks of the River Lee. The mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments will see rent start at €990 per calendar month for a one-bed and €1,100 for a two-bed.
Under the Government's Cost Rental Scheme, rents must be a minimum of 25% below open market value. According to Clúid, the Lancaster Gate apartments are offered at 45% below local market rates.
Fiona Cormican, Clúid Housing's Director of New Business said the homes are affordable for those who are currently struggling to rent on the open market.
The scheme means the rent paid is based on the cost of the building, managing and maintaining the homes. It does not include any profit for a developer.
While welcoming the rental scheme, housing charity Threshold said rents are still largely unaffordable for single people on lower incomes, adding they could still struggle to afford the one-bedroom apartments.
It said: "To afford the €990 rent on the one-bed property, the renter would need a gross income of approximately €43,000 plus a year, so as not to spend more than 35% of their net income on rent. Based on the SILC 2021 income data, this will be affordable to households who earn just below the median income.
"However, single people are less likely to earn close to the median and so the one-bed apartment will likely be more affordable to couples earning near the median income."
It said it "would be largely in favour of a rent setting system which considers the households ability to pay and uses a cross subsidisation model to increase affordability and accessibility for single people.”
A Cork Simon spokesman said that the announcement of the new cost-rental homes is very welcome given the number of homes to rent being at an all-time low and monthly rents at an all-time high.
"There’s an ongoing shortage of one-bed apartments in Cork – when they do become available, their average monthly rent is €1,112 according to the Daft.ie Rental Price Report for the first quarter of 2022, representing an 11% increase in 12 months," the spokesman said.
Delivered by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), local authorities and the Land Development Agency, the homes provide long-term security of tenure so the same home can be rented indefinitely.
In order to apply for cost-rental homes, applicants must have a net household income below €53,000 per year, must not be in receipt of any social housing supports and must be able to show they can afford the rent.
Where more applications are received than properties available, the successful applicants will be selected at random. The first of the semi-furnished apartments will be ready to move into in October 2022.
Budget 2022 allocated €70m for the delivery of 700 cost-rental homes by AHBs. Clúid was chosen, along with Respond and Túath, to deliver the first cost-rental homes in Ireland.