A new development in Trim aims to give young couples a chance to save for their own homes.
President Patrick Hillery performed the honours at the opening of a new housing complex at Trim in County Meath. The development provides a unique form of low cost housing for young couples. President Hillery said that Trim had set an example of what could be done in other communities.
The development consists of flatlets built at a cost of around £15,000 each through fundraising and constructed by AnCO trainees. The homes have been allocated to selected couples at a nominal rent. The couples will also be obliged to save a fixed amount each week for house purchase.
Noel Dempsey, Trim Muintir Housing Aid Society, explains where the idea for the development came from as rents in the town were fairly high meaning that newly married couples were not getting the chance to save for a house in the first few years of marriage.
One of the needs was cheap accommodation for newly marrieds.
The Trim Muintir Housing Aid Society was set up to provide cheap accommodation to young couples.
John and Vera Ayton, one of the newlywed couples to receive a flatlet, are delighted with their new home and hope to buy their own house in the coming years.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 16 December 1983. The reporter is Alan McCullough.
