Dublin City Council plans to turn a former hotel in Georgian buildings on Fitzwilliam Street into a homeless hostel.
The council bought Longfields Hotel seven years ago at the height of the property market for almost €7 million.
The hotel, two adjoining Georgian houses about 100m from Merrion Square, has been vacant since then and has cost the council more than €300,000 in security and maintenance services.
The houses are at the heart of the south Georgian core, which the council wants to re-establish as an upmarket residential area.
It bought the houses, which are on the record of protected structures, with the intention of turning them into a hostel as there is little homeless accommodation in that part of the city, but it was unable to meet the costs of conversion.
Accommodation scheme
The council now plans to use the building as a supported temporary accommodation
unit for 30 men and women under the management of homeless organisation Dublin Simon.
The unit is designed to cater for people who not only have a housing need, but also have “specialised health, care and support needs or complex needs,” said the council.
Residents participate in programmes to address the issues relating to their lifestyle, health needs and wellbeing. People stay in the unit for up to six months.
The council wants to move away from an over-concentration of homeless services in certain parts of the city and has identified Dublin 1, 7 and 8 as having far more provision for homeless people than areas such as Dublin 2.
Refurbishment works
Dublin Simon has been providing a similar supported service at Harcourt Street since 2004, but the building is no longer
suitable.
“The transfer of the service to 9-10 Fitzwilliam Street in partnership with Dublin City Council will secure the sustainability of the future service provision for individuals experiencing homelessness,” said the council.
It is preparing a schedule of refurbishment works for the building, the costs of which have yet to be outlined. But the conversion of the hotel into a hostel will require ratification by councillors.
The building is opposite the ESB headquarters, which the utility company is seeking to demolish and rebuild.
Councillors this week agreed to change the city development plan to facilitate the ESB scheme.
