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Vacant Properties

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 September 2018

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Questions (46)

Jan O'Sullivan

Question:

46. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of privately owned homes brought back into use as a result of the vacant homes strategy of Rebuilding Ireland; his plans to amend the incentives and penalties to encourage more owners of empty dwellings to provide them for housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38904/18]

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Written answers

The National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy, which I published in July, contains a range of objectives and key actions which will be pursued in partnership with stakeholders and agencies across the housing sector to address vacancy in our housing stock. It draws together all of the strands of ongoing work in one document with a clear vision for progressing the return of vacant homes to use over the next few years.

The Strategy acts as an overarching roadmap and a focal point for the co-ordination and implementation of initiatives right across Government to ensure that we are using our existing housing stock to the fullest extent possible, aiming to return as many recoverable vacant properties back to viable use as possible, increasing the supply of sustainable housing, while also revitalising the vibrancy of local communities.

While the Strategy has only recently been published, my Department and local authorities have already been very proactive in dealing with vacant properties and there are a number of schemes available to incentivise the return of suitable dwellings into the liveable housing stock.

We are regularly considering new and improved ways of reducing the number of vacant residential dwellings. While the initial national roll-out of the innovative Repair and Lease Scheme did not yield the level of response hoped for, improvements have been made to the scheme with the intention of increasing interest from those who wish to bring their vacant property back into use. We will continue to review all initiatives with a view to offering the best incentives to those who wish to bring homes back into use.

In tandem with the incentives and schemes available centrally, the website www.vacanthomes.ie was developed by Mayo County Council in July 2017 on behalf of the local government sector to serve as a central portal for individuals to anonymously log possible vacant homes and alert local authorities so that they can follow up with the registered owners, with a view to ascertaining the potential for bringing these homes into productive use for residential purposes.

The latest statistics from the site indicate that in excess of 2,000 properties have been registered as vacant to date, with the breakdown by province being Leinster 53%, Munster 30%, Connaught 14% and Ulster 3%. Mayo County Council has informed my Department that it is also getting increased interest from property owners in relation to the updated Repair and Lease Scheme.

Local authorities have been asked to provide information regarding vacancy to the Department's Vacant Homes Unit on a quarterly basis, with material due to be submitted shortly, which will allow for further analysis of the work being undertaken at a local level in respect of vacant residential property.

The analysis undertaken by the Central Statistics Office on the number of houses connected to the ESB grid also provides some useful information on the number of vacant dwellings that have been reconnected after two or more years. The CSO’s latest data for Q2 2018 shows that since the start of 2016, over 6,400 vacant homes have been brought back into use across the country, adding to the significantly increasing number of new homes connected to the grid for the first time. The full data is available on the CSO website at the following link:

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/ndc/newdwellingcompletionsq22018/.

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