Local Authority Housing

Wednesday, 20 May 2020

Questions (1334)

Eoin Ó Broin

Question:

1334. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of voids brought back into the housing stock in each of the years 2016 to 2019; and the number of these that were previously vacant for longer than six months in tabular form. [5851/20]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government

Under the Voids Programme funded by my Department, 7,333 vacant social housing homes were returned to productive use in the period 2016-2019. This figure does not include homes which were returned to productive use by local authorities using funding from their own resources. See the following table for full breakdown by local authority of the units funded by my Department:

	Units Returned in 2016	Units Returned in 2017	Units Returned in 2018	Units Returned in 2019	Units Returned 2016 - 2019

Carlow	8	8	38	14	68
Cavan	32	31	14	9	86
Clare	79	47	43	62	231
Cork City	263	81	74	69	487
Cork County	98	48	205	70	421
Donegal	89	168	86	43	386
Dublin City	575	543	495	495	2,108
Fingal	147	121	48	22	338
South Dublin	81	87	61	89	318
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown	19	31	50	83	183
Galway City	29	11	3	3	46
Galway County	37	37	45	39	158
Kerry	90	90	98	61	339
Kildare	24	8	27	11	70
Kilkenny	14	16	15	13	58
Laois	12	4	12	23	51
Leitrim	51	0	30	22	103
Limerick	18	13	24	75	130
Longford	23	0	3	19	45
Louth	8	7	13	5	33
Mayo	25	22	20	5	72
Meath	76	52	59	22	209
Monaghan	47	38	52	13	150
Offaly	53	7	10	18	88
Roscommon	80	3	2	2	87
Sligo	68	40	100	40	248
Tipperary	102	107	63	72	344
Waterford	90	52	20	55	217
Westmeath	43	40	23	7	113
Wexford	17	34	8	29	88
Wicklow	10	11	24	13	58

	2,308	1,757	1,765	1,503	7,333

One of the key objectives of the Voids Programme is to provide local authorities with funding to help minimise the turnaround and re-let time of vacant units. Data in relation to how many of these properties were vacant for longer than six months is not collated. However, statistics in relation to the social housing stock are published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) in their Annual Reports on Performance Indicators in Local Authorities. These reports provide a range of information in relation to social housing stock, including the average time taken to re-tenant a dwelling. The most recent report, relating to 2018, is available on the NOAC website at the following link: http://noac.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NOAC-Performance-Indicator-Report-2018-1.pdf.