Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 July 2017
485. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government when he expects a completed document will be published in view of the fact that he has seen a first draft of the new national vacant housing re-use strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33468/17]
View answerPillar 5 of the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is specifically focused on Utilising Existing Housing Stock, with a key objective of ensuring that the existing vacant housing stock throughout the country and across all forms of tenure, in both the public and private sectors, is used to the optimum degree possible. In this regard, Action 5.1 of Rebuilding Ireland commits to the development of a National Vacant Housing Re-Use Strategy, informed by Census 2016 data.
To this end, the Housing Agency, established a working group comprising senior representatives from my Department, local authorities and from the Housing Agency itself to inform the Strategy. My Department has received the output from the work of this Group and is presently engaging with key Departments and Agencies to consider the analysis and agree on the recommended actions, prior to publication.
I would like to see as much ambition as possible in bringing as many viable vacant properties back into use at an early stage. I intend, as part of the review of Rebuilding Ireland, to explore what further actions can be taken and what new ideas we can bring to bear, in close liaison with Ministerial colleagues. If budgetary measures are needed to reinforce the ambition, this may delay the publication of the Strategy. But this will not delay the commencement of important work at local level in gathering more accurate and up-to-date information on where vacant properties are and who owns them, so that we can facilitate the re-use of many vacant properties, particularly in our cities and towns. I will be discussing this with local authority Chief Executives when I meet them next week.
Ahead of finalisation of the Strategy, it is important to note that my Department has already introduced a number of significant measures under Pillar 5 of Rebuilding Ireland to incentivise the increased use of vacant housing stock to help meet the needs of those in receipt of social housing assistance. These initiatives include the Repair and Leasing Scheme, the Buy and Renew Scheme, and the Housing Agency acquisitions fund.
My Department will continue to engage actively with local authorities, working together with AHBs, to maximise delivery from these schemes, particularly in relation to the Repair & Leasing Scheme referred to by the Deputy, and to progress the wider range of actions to be finalised as part of the broader Vacant House Re-use Strategy.
