Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 October 2020
159. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated funding that will be needed to bring all vacant local authority housing up to a liveable standard in counties Cavan and Monaghan by local electoral area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27790/20]
View answerThe management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966.
Since 2014, Exchequer funding has also been provided through my Department's Voids Programme to support local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting. This funding was initially introduced to tackle long term vacant units and is now increasingly targeted at supporting minimal turnaround and re-let times for local authority vacant stock. Local authorities also contribute funding from their own resources to support work in this area.
Local authorities will always have a level of vacancy in their housing stock. This will fluctuate over time, as tenancy surrender and re-letting of stock is an ongoing process. Under the current voids programme local authorities are asked to bring vacant units to the standards required under the Housing (Private Rented Standards) Regulations, 2019.
Data in relation to the number, location and condition of vacant local authority units is not collated by my Department, 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. 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.
