Changing the use of a hotel into a temporary hostel for homeless accommodation requires planning permission, An Bord Pleanála has ruled in a decision that will have implications for homeless services across the State.
The planning appeals board has overruled a March decision by Dublin City Council that changing the use of the Paramount Hotel in Temple Bar from hotel use to a non-tourist hostel for homeless people was exempt from planning permission.
The board went against the advice of its own planning inspector whose report cited the building owner’s view that “no change of use has occurred aside form the socio-economic class associated with the inhabitants occupying the hotel bedrooms”.
Although it is expected the ruling will have implications for other hotel-to-hostel developments across the State, it does not apply to centres for international protection applicants, which are exempt from planning.
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According to papers lodged with An Bord Pleanála, Amprey Ltd, owner of the Paramount Hotel on Parliament and Exchange streets in Temple Bar, has had short-term contracts to provide accommodation to homeless people since April 2020.
Earlier this year, consultant planners Armstrong Planning of Dún Laoghaire, on behalf of Old City Management Company, which manages a nearby apartment building, asked the council for a determination on whether the change to accommodation for the homeless required planning permission.
The council ruled in March that there was no material change of use. Armstrong Planning referred the issue to An Bord Pleanála for a “section five″ planning decision to determine the issue.
Although the board’s inspector reviewing the case recommended a finding that there was no material change from hotel to hostel, he was overruled by the board of the planning authority.
The board said “the predominant use of the building is no longer for tourist accommodation”.
It also said the provision of accommodation for homeless people provides for a “social need” and therefore constitutes “care”, as defined in the Planning and Development Regulations.
It said “a hotel or a hostel, other than a hostel where care is provided, is a business premises as defined in article 5(1) of the Planning and Development Regulations”. The board said “therefore the use of the building for a hotel as permitted, is a business premises. The use of the building for short-term homeless accommodation is not a business premises.”
The board further said the change of use from the permitted hotel use “to use as a short-term homeless accommodation raises planning considerations which are materially different from the planning considerations relating to permitted hotel use”.
David Armstrong of Armstrong Planning said the case represented a significant addition to case law on the change of use issue. He said he was sure it would be studied closely by property owners who have changed their hotels into accommodation for the homeless without the benefit of planning permission.
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