Following a decision to wind down its operations after three decades, Athlone & District Housing Association distributed its surplus funds to local charities last week.
Some €50,000 went to St Hilda’s respite building project, which offers respite to people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities, and €10,000 went to the Midlands Simon Community, for their emergency accommodation beds.
Athlone & District Housing Association was formed in the late 1980s by Brother Frank McGovern, with the objective of providing housing and associated amenities for persons in deprived or needful circumstances.
Following a strategic review, the company concluded that its objective would be better served by aligning with a larger housing association with greater resources and skill sets. The company, therefore, decided to cease trading and has transferred its housing stock and much of its available funds to Respond, a similar but larger nationwide housing charity.
Respond was founded in the early 1980s by Father Patrick Cogan OFM, who was a member of the Franciscan Friary in Waterford. It will provide much needed social housing in Athlone in the coming years.
