Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 October 2017
733. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of properties acquired by Galway City Council and Galway County Council in relation to the repair and leasing scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42849/17]
View answerThe Repair and Leasing Scheme, RLS, was piloted in Carlow and Waterford and has been rolled out nationally since 23 February last. My Department has been working intensively with local authorities and approved housing bodies to develop and implement the scheme, and individual targets have been set for local authorities for 2017. The scheme is one of a suite of measures available to local authorities to bring vacant properties back into use.
Data for Galway City Council and Galway County Council, based on the first full three months of activity of the scheme at the end of June 2017, are set out in the following table. While no Agreements to Lease have been signed to date, the process of finalising units is under way, and I expect a number of agreements will be signed shortly. My Department is currently gathering data from local authorities in order to report progress in Quarter 3.
Feedback from local authorities indicates that, in many cases, properties requiring extensive repair work and therefore not suitable for the RLS have been secured under the Buy and Renew Scheme, which facilitates local authorities or approved housing bodies to purchase vacant properties for social housing use.
|
Local Authority |
Number of applications received |
Number of evaluations completed |
Properties deemed SUITABLE |
Properties deemed UNSUITABLE |
|
Galway City Council |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Galway County Council |
44 |
28 |
6 |
22 |
