Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
351. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to force owners of private houses that are left vacant to sell them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18617/20]
View answerLocal authorities already have a range of legislative powers available to them to deal with under-utilised and derelict properties in their functional areas, including through the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers under Derelict Sites and Housing legislation. A number of local authorities have already been particularly proactive in utilising their CPO powers and all local authorities are being encouraged to use their CPO powers in appropriate circumstances.
In addition to using the legislative powers already available to local authorities, Pillar 5 of Rebuilding Ireland sets out a range of measures to assist in meeting Ireland’s housing needs by ensuring that our existing housing stock is used to the greatest extent possible including –
- a National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy, which was published by my Department in July 2018. The Strategy provides a targeted, effective and co-ordinated approach to identifying and tackling vacancy across the country and draws together all of the strands of ongoing work into one document; and
- targeted incentives and schemes to assist in reactivating vacant dwellings into the liveable housing stock including the Buy and Renew and the Repair and Lease Schemes.
Tackling vacancy will continue to be the focus of targeted attention by my Department through the ongoing implementation of measures set out in the National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy. In that context I recently launched a national publicity campaign “Call for Housing 2020” to stimulate private market interest in delivering social housing through Acquisitions and the Social Housing Leasing schemes. The aim is to secure these units long-term and provide homes that can be occupied immediately and to allow individuals and families to be moved from emergency accommodation to own-door housing.
