Bray Woman's Apartment 'Ruined'

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Bray Woman's Apartment 'Ruined'

Friday, April 20 2007

Bray's new experience with a private management company to look after public housing is a bad idea and should be scrapped, according to Cllr. John Brady of Sinn Féin.

"Just last week there was a flood in an apartment in Riversdale on the Dargle Road. The apartment is owned by the council and the tenant had just put down brand-new wood flooring," said Brady.

"When the tenant tried to find out how to handle this situation she got a very condescending response from the management agency. When she rang the town they were at a complete loss as to what to do. She was at her wits' end by the time she got in touch with me. I rang the town on her behalf and they told me they did not know how to proceed since this is the first time they have run in to this situation," Brady said.

"The first point is that a local authority should not be paying a private company to look after public housing. Local authorities have plenty of experience with these matters. I have major, major reservations about this arrangement. We are on a dangerous road and we should step back from it. We have no control over maintenance or the quality of work being carried out on property owned by the taxpayer," Brady said.

"No one was available to look after that tenant. She lost a valuable and brand-new floor. It had to be ripped up and thrown out. We are doing our tenants a terrible disservice with this arrangement," Brady said.

Riversdale is the first 'Part V' housing scheme in the Bray area. Under a recent law, developers are mandated to set aside 20% of all new developments as social and affordable housing.

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