Problems finding suitable sites plaguing efforts to deliver modular homes for Ukrainian refugees

At the end of March Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil: “As we’ve always learned in the past from modular and rapid build, it’s not so cheap and not so rapid.”

This has proven to be true for the Government’s plans to house 2,800 Ukrainian refugees in modular homes.

Mr Varadkar outlined some of the potential difficulties.

“You have to have a site, you have to have the site serviced . . . you can’t just drop them in a field. You have to order them. They have to arrive and then you have to get them from the factory to the site and make sure there’s no low bridges along the way,” he said.

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[ State ordered 700 modular homes for refugees without enough sites to locate them ]

There has been no confirmation from Government that low bridges have been the cause of any of the delays to beset the project to deliver 700 modular homes.

But there are enough other issues to ensure a project the Coalition had hoped would deliver its first units in little more than six months has not resulted in a single refugee moving into a finished home a year after it was first mooted.

The number of people who have fled Russia’s war on Ukraine to move to Ireland is approaching 80,000. More than 63,000 of these have been accommodated in State-sourced accommodation whether in hotels, emergency rest centres or vacant or shared homes offered by members of the public.

The goal of the modular homes project was to develop brand new housing “rapidly” to ease the refugee accommodation crisis.

It was initially hoped the first homes would be ready in November but the deadline was not met and the target was put back to Easter.

But, just days after Mr Varadkar spoke in the Dáil, it emerged that the first units will not be ready until mid-June.

Throughout the process the problem of finding suitable sites has plagued those tasked with the mammoth job of rapidly creating whole neighbourhoods from the ground up.

There has been resistance and protests from residents in some of the chosen locations, resulting in periods of community engagement.

Even at sites where building contractors had begun to pave the way for the installation of the homes, some have required significant remediation works to bring them up to standard, adding to delays and costs.

The latest records released by the Office of Public Works – the agency tasked with providing the modular homes – show a scramble to find ten more sites at the start of 2023 in a bid to ensure there will be enough space for the units purchased by the State.

Some 700 modular homes were ordered last year without full confirmation that enough suitable sites had been found for all of them.

The Department of Housing – which was leading the hunt for more sites – was said to be “confident” they would be found and the Government insists that remains the case today.

However, the history of the modular homes project would leave room for doubt this will be done in a timely manner.

The Irish Times previously revealed that the OPW was expressing frustration that suitable locations had not been identified as far back as last May.

It had been first asked by Government to deliver the modular homes programme at the end of April.

In September OPW chairman Maurice Buckley wrote to the Department of Integration outlining the concerns of OPW junior minister Patrick O’Donovan surrounding the “urgent need to accelerate” community engagement to allow the contractors to go on site.

Further records show that Mr Buckley wrote to the Departments of Integration and the Taoiseach later the same month saying: “We are seriously concerned now about the availability of sites of sufficient quality for our €100m+ programme to be successful”.

The latest records released show that by January 20th this year the OPW had examined 73 sites with 57 – or 78 per – cent deemed unsuitable.

The reasons for this include flooding, restricted site access, no adjacent power or water supply and a lack of drainage infrastructure.

That information is contained in a briefing document drawn up in advance of a planned meeting between Mr O’Donovan, Mr Buckley and the Taoiseach.

Correspondence says the meeting was suggested by Mr Varadkar when he was in touch with Mr O’Donovan about the issue over Christmas.

In advance of the planned meeting, the OPW wrote to the Department of Housing saying part of the update to the Taoiseach would be on the sites “and whether we are secure on those in terms of sufficient good sites available”.

It sought details of a further list of 10 new sites “so that we can inform the Taoiseach that we have that list from yourselves”.

A housing official wrote back to say: “We will try to get back to you on this as soon as we can”. He asked the OPW to forward on the criteria used for deciding whether or not a site is suitable for use.

The OPW responded to say that in general terms the Department of Integration “require sites that are within walking distance to services (schools, GPs, public transport, retail, childcare)” and “not too rural”.

From the OPW’s perspective, the sites should be at least one hectare or more, have level ground, and have nearby access to waste water and ESB facilities if the sites are not already serviced.

They also needed access to a main road and “no flooding risk or historic/archaeology on/around the site – as a minimum at least”.

Further correspondence shows the Department of Housing said it would be helpful to them to have “a better sense of the reasons for refusal of the sites previously put forward”.

In another email a housing official asked if it would be possible that sites previously refused as “too rural” be reviewed again due to the “community car” initiative aimed at helping Ukrainian refugees travel around rural areas.

The OPW wrote back: “We need to move to more suitable sites urgently in more populated areas.”

At the time the January 20th briefing document was drawn up there were five “phase one” sites with space for about 250 homes: Farnham Road, Co Cavan; Ballinure; Mahon, Co Cork; Doorly Park, Co Sligo; Claremorris, Co Mayo; and Thurles, Co Tipperary.

A further five sites had been “deemed suitable” including Rathdowney, Co Laois and Clonminch, Tullamore, Co Offaly.

Three other locations in that category were redacted in the records released by the OPW.

There were said to be “site issues being resolved” at both Rathdowney and Clonminch with “forecast handover” said to be on July 14th and August 11th respectively.

Seven more sites were “being assessed” though “not all of these sites may be suitable” with at least two of them subject to differing opinions about their future. One had been “identified by the local authority as being reserved for social housing”.

At the time sites either confirmed or “imminently expected to be confirmed” had capacity for 340 units which the document notes is “just short of half the number of units needed for the entire programme”. The other sites with an overall capacity of 350 units were “still under consideration”.

The situation led the OPW to refer to a Department of Housing commitment that it would provide additional sites and warn: “It will be imperative that at least 10 additional good quality sites are quickly sourced, so that the OPW can be assured of delivering the target number of units, particularly as experience shows that it is likely that only around four of those sites will ultimately be viable”.

The document says four factors have led to an “acceleration of cost” – construction inflation; severe supply chain challenges; the “need for significant remediation works” on available sites; and the provision of smaller sites leading to more being needed and “therefore higher development costs”.

The last publicly available estimate is €140 million for the first 500 homes. The Government did not offer an updated estimate when asked last week and details in the documents released were redacted.

One of the reasons why all 700 units were ordered before the end of 2022 was cost.

On January 24th OPW chairman Maurice Buckley wrote to the Department of Integration saying that the order had been placed for the final 200 out of the total of 700 homes in December “to secure costs”.

A separate OPW report says “these were procured at the same fixed cost as previous tranches, thereby avoiding the material increased costs that would have applied from the 1 January 2023”.

The Government has not confirmed if the extra 10 sites sought by the OPW in January have been found.

A statement said: “Government has stepped up action to maximise the pace and scale of sourcing suitable accommodation in response to the Ukraine situation”.

It also said: “The programme will see 700 units installed on a range of sites over the course of 2023 and Government is confident that there are a sufficient number of sites under review to accommodate the 700 units”.

Mr Varadkar was adamant in the Dáil last month that they “are going to happen” but added “they’re not as rapid as people would hope they are and that’s just the reality of it”.