I live with my daughter, Melissa, in our new CHI home here in Ardfert. We just received the keys in November. We’re originally from Ballyheigue which is just up the road from here. It’s wonderful to get a new home so close to Tralee. We’re less than minutes’ drive from Tralee now.
My daughter Melissa is 38 and has a brain injury. She goes to St John of God every day. We’re lucky that the bus passes the door of our new place. I’m delighted too that she can walk to shop and back from our new home. This place will give her a lot more independence. I’m a veterinary assistant by trade but took a year out recently to care for my Melissa.
We were living in Ballyheigue before getting our new home with CHI. The house we had there was lovely, and we had a good enough landlord. I couldn’t complain about them. Our main issue was after our first lease they wouldn’t give me a longer-term lease, so we were living there month-to- month. It’s an extremely uncertain way to live and I found it quite difficult to manage. We were living there for 5 years supported by HAP with no security of tenure. Ballyheigue was a wonderful place to live, and I really enjoyed our time there. We were proactive tenants, I used to get the chimney swept every year and the boiler serviced and so on. We did have a good landlord too, who did whatever we asked for when we needed it.
I began to search for somewhere else to live in Ballyheigue that would give us more security of tenure, but it really was impossible to get something. There are hardly any houses ever on the market even further out of the village. The village isn’t particularly big, but it is very charming. There are a few shops and some pubs. Ballyheigue is about 2 minutes’ drive from the beach, where I walk the dogs every morning.

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The great thing about our new home with CHI is the excitement that we have it forever, there’s a lot more enthusiasm for it overall than when we were renting. We’re getting excited about painting and furbishing the place and making it our own. Knowing that we’re going to have this place forever makes the effort more worthwhile. The house is gorgeous so I’m happy to invest in it. There’s so much space in it, it truly is fabulous. At the minute, I’m busy making decisions picking flooring and so on. I’m going with ceramic tiles in the sitting room as it’s practical and easy to keep. I’m also getting an American-style fridge fitted and a separate food larder where the original fridge was supposed to go as Melissa is coeliac and I need a special place to store her food. We’re taking some things from our old place too, the original canopy over Melissa’s bed and her Winnie the Pooh items. We’re taking about 80 per cent of Melissa’s stuff. Melissa loves all things art, so we have a lot of pottery making tools and about 2000 markers!
It going to take us about a month to settle in. It’s had a big impact on Melissa. She’s had a couple of months of disturbed sleep. She doesn’t really verbalise emotions, so change can be difficult for her. We keep a very strict routine because Melissa needs that and we’re trying to make the transition as smooth as possible. At the minute I’m looking for planning permission for a shed to build in the springtime.

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In general, I think there’s a great community here in Ardfert. There’s a lot of interaction with more moving to the community. Sinéad, the CHI Housing Officer, told us someone from the Athletics Club was in touch to invite new Members here to a walking group at night and Friday mornings. That’s great that people are reaching out to make an effort with their new neighbours. We’re really looking forward to Christmas in our new community.
About CHI

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Co-operative Housing Ireland is the national organisation representing, promoting and developing co-operative housing in Ireland. Since our foundation in 1973 we have provided nearly 6,500 homes through home-ownership, shared ownership and social rented co-operatives. With our membership of democratically controlled local co-operatives, we now manage close to 3,500 homes across Ireland as well as providing a network of childcare services in our communities.
CHI is one of Ireland’s largest Approved Housing Bodies working with Local Authorities and others to meet the housing needs of low-income households.

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