St. Vincent De Paul looking for social housing volunteers in Mayo county town

TO help in meeting demand for social housing in Castlebar, the St. Vincent de Paul (SVP) Society are looking to recruit new volunteers to provide support for their housing in the town.

While better known as a charity working in communities in helping the poor and those in need, SVP, with the help of its volunteers, also help create communities through the provision and servicing of social housing.

Housing provided by SVP is designed for people to live independently and is commonly developed with the elderly in mind.

Each scheme provided by the society is managed and serviced at a local level by dedicated SVP volunteers, supported by full-time SVP staff including a local Castlebar and a regional housing officer.

This work is very different from SVP home visitation volunteer work and requires people with a certain skillset to embrace and support their housing work.

Linda Nichol, SVP social housing officer for Castlebar, outlines the housing volunteer roles.

“The society in Castlebar express that experience and knowledge in the areas of office administration, architecture, engineering, surveying, health and safety, social work /social care, finance, legal and IT would be particularly welcome and an advantage in volunteering in the housing sector with us. However there is opportunity for anyone to volunteer within a wide range of roles and projects that are available to suit everyone’s needs.

“Volunteering can be an extremely rewarding experience both for you and the people whose lives you help to change and improve. Volunteering with St. Vincent de Paul will often be particularly suitable, but is not by any means confined to retired persons, that may have a little more time on their hands that they would like to offer back into the wider community.”

HISTORY

In 1978, Castlebar SVP purchased a site on the Newport Road, Castlebar. The area council at the time applied for planning permission for 20 single bedroom dwelling houses as well as a community centre for these houses.

This was well supported by the businesses and people of Castlebar at the time and from 1990 onwards further improvements were undertaken, including refurbishment of the community centre on site which is utilised for social activities for residents.

There was still a demand for housing for older single people in the area and during the 1990s a bequest was given to the Castlebar SVP. A decision was made to try and address this housing issue locally again. While trying to source a site, Mayo County Council were building a social housing development in Cois Abhainn on the Turlough Road, Castlebar, and 12 single bedroom apartments were made available to SVP Castlebar.

Initially these apartments were occupied by elderly single people.

Mayo County Council around that time had compulsory purchased four houses in Castle Street, Castlebar. The area council agreed to purchase these houses through a Department of Environment grant that was available at the time. A design of 19 apartments was developed around 2000. This ‘Sean Bhaile’ named building project was completed in 2004.

With these apartments now being available, a number of elderly people moved from Cois Abhainn to Sean Bhaile, resulting in a younger age profile tenant being housed in Cois Abhainn and the elderly residents being accommodated in the more suitable central location of Castlebar town. The general age profile remains, but is not exclusive, to elderly single occupants of most of our homes in Castlebar and the wider western region.

For the volunteer positions, SVP Castlebar state that people would be required to give approximately three hours of their time a week and attend various meetings locally and perhaps regionally with support from other volunteers and the dedicated housing officers.

To make initial enquiries about the volunteer positions, please email Linda Nichol linda.nichol@svp.ie or call (086) 4402043. A meeting will be set up to commence the process of becoming a volunteer, which is subject to the provision of application, garda vetting and references.

SVP is an approved housing body under the Approved Housing Body Regulatory Authority and must meet obligations as a social housing landlord.