MEDIA RELEASE              

8th August  2022

                                                                                                                                       “I feel like I’ve won the lotto with this new place”-

                                                                                                                          Co-operative Housing Ireland welcomes its 4000th Member

Limerick, 8th August 2022: Co-operative Housing Ireland [CHI] today welcomed its 4000thsocial-rented member. This is in addition to the 3,000 homes the movement supported through owner-occupier.  The non-profit has a near -year history of delivering affordable and secure co-operative homes across Ireland. Alison Glynn and her daughter, Isabella, received the keys to their forever home in Monéir, Clonmacken, Co. Limerick.

Speaking about receiving the keys to her new home, Alison said, “I was renting my last home. It was very expensive and needed a lot of work done to it. It wasn’t a very nice place. I’m so happy to be in this new CHI home. Everything is up to standard and I feel safe and secure here. Isabella, my daughter loves it.”

Alison continued, “She’s fifteen and has autism. She loves walking and there are a lot of places nearby where we can go, and my mam is very close which is lovely. We’re not too far away from town, about a fifteen-minute walk or so. There’s going to be a local bus too which is great. I feel like I’ve won the lotto now we have this new place.”

CHI delivered a record number of 592 homes in Ireland last year and will deliver more than 700 by the close of 2022.  

Speaking on the occasion to mark their landmark 400thMember, Chairperson of CHI Pearse O’Shiel said, “CHI now manages 4,000 homes, supporting nearly 12,000 people across the country. Our ability to adapt to housing needs is testament to our organisation’s capacity to deliver quality homes. In a five-year period CHI’s capacity has grown from being able to deliver 190 homes a year in 2017 to 700 plus in 2022.

Commenting on CHI’s growth in recent years, Dave Ryan, Regional Housing Services for Munster and Limerick native said, “CHI’s growth and delivery in Limerick, and Munster generally, has been a considerable achievement for the Co-operative. By the end of November 2022, we will have delivered 318 homes in Limerick over a 24-month period. Across Munster CHI provides homes in all six counties and has successfully increased delivery by 49% over the past three years.”

Monéir in Clonmacken was delivered in partnership with Limerick City and Council, the Housing Finance Agency, the Housing Agency, the Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage, and Formation Homes. The development is a mixture of four, three and two-bed homes. When the development is complete there will be over 100 homes. Each household in Monéir will be a member of the Ralahine Housing Co-operative.

CHI is a leading Approved Housing Body working with Local Authorities and others to meet the housing needs of low-income households on social housing waiting lists.

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