Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 April 2016
471. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the reason there is a cap of €30,000 for local authority applications for funding for refurbishment of vacant social housing programmes to his Department. [7639/16]
View answerThe repair and re-letting of vacant social houses has always been part of the ongoing work that local authorities carry out on their social housing stock as part of their responsibilities as housing authorities under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. However, in 2014, in recognition of the need to address a build-up of vacant social houses, my Department introduced the current programme to support local authorities to return vacant social houses to productive use, with exchequer funding provided since then for some 5,000 such housing units at a cost of almost €60 million. This funding is provided to compliment the efforts that local authorities make from within their own resources.
The funding provided by my Department under the current exchequer-funded programme for the return of vacant social houses to productive use is up to €30,000 per unit, which is a strong level of funding support for the repair of a social housing unit. In fact, the average amount claimed under this programme is €12,000 per unit.
Alongside this programme, my Department has also recently implemented a new exchequer funding programme to support local authorities in remediating more seriously derelict social houses. Allocations to local authorities in respect of their proposals under this programme will be made shortly and it is expected that the average cost of remediation per unit will be in the region of €50,000.
