Rathmines ‘affordable’ housing scheme seeks €4,000 a month for apartment

A Church of Ireland-backed housing development in south Dublin, described as a community-driven scheme “to address the shortage of affordable housing” in the area, is seeking up to €4,000 a month in rent for its main three-bed residential units.

The Coram Deo project in Purser Gardens, Rathmines, which has just come on the market, is advertised as “a low-density, high-spec development… equidistant from Rathmines and Ranelagh villages”.

The nine-unit development contains a new rectory and curate’s house adjacent to the Holy Trinity Church, also known as the Black Church, and seven additional “homes for the community” comprising three three-bed duplexes; three one-bed ground floor apartments; and another five-bed town house with its own front entrance on Belgrave Road.

According to property website Daft.ie, the asking rent for the three-bed duplexes is €4,000 a month, while the rent sought for the one-bed units is €2,600 per month.

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“The new development will help to address the shortage of affordable housing stock by providing a mix of contemporary town houses and apartments for rental,” the Church of Ireland said on its Coram Deo website.

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Holy Trinity Church rector, Reverend Rob Jones said, however, the back block, which contains the six apartments and duplexes, was essentially funding the front block, which contains the rectory, the curate’s house and the five-bed town house.

The latter three buildings would house up to 15 people, including parish workers, several local people and a number of Ukrainian refugees, at significantly reduced rents, he said. The church already houses Ukrainian refugees at a nearby site.

“The commercial side will pay for the other side but also it will bring in revenue for us as a parish,” Rev Jones said.

“One of the proposals was to put 27 apartments on it [the site] and sweat the asset. When I say it’s not purely commercially driven, we are putting our community on that site, to live there, to serve the area and basically the back block is paying for the front block and the ministry of the church, which has been there since 1828.

“I think it’s unfair if people say we are jumping on the bandwagon. We’re actually not, we’re a charity, we’re doing our best and we’re really trying to make this work and that’s not just rhetoric. If we don’t rent those apartments, we won’t exist as a charity,” he said.

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Construction of the scheme, designed by Dublin-based DTA Architects, was originally costed at €3.6 million but ran over budget because of Covid-19 and increased procurement costs.

According to estate agent Sherry FitzGerald, a one-bed apartment in Rathmines typically rents for about €1,750 a month while a three-bed unit would go for about €3,500 a month.

Dublin 6, which includes the suburbs of Rathmines, Ranelagh and Rathgar, is one of the most expensive areas for housing in the State. According to the latest Property Price Register, the median price or middle price for a property in the area for the 12 months to April was €715,000.