My Department publishes a wide range of housing and planning statistics on our website and the total number of local authority housing units occupied can be found at the following link, under the area titled ‘LA rented units by area 2003+’ within the Social Housing Supports contents: http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/FileDownLoad,15291,en.xls .
This information does not cover households currently renting directly from Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). However, it is estimated that there are approximately 27,000 units of social housing in the AHB sector.
General statistics on local authority housing stock, including units that may be empty, are published annually by the Local Government Management Agency. The most recent statistics are in respect of 2013 and are available at the following link: http://www.lgma.ie/en/service-indicators-local-authorities-2013
As part of a planned programme supported by my Department in 2014, there were over 2,300 vacant social housing units returned to productive use at a cost of €26.1 million. This issue will continue to be addressed in 2015, through funding made available under Budget 2015.