Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021
332. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the progress to date in expanding the role of vacant home officers in local authorities to bring vacant stock into productive use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44801/20]
View answerSince 2018, and the publication of the National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy, my Department has secured funding of €50,000 per annum for each local authority to support the work of a Vacant Homes Office, including a Vacant Homes Officer for each local authority. This Strategy strives to provide a targeted, effective and co-ordinated approach to identifying and tackling vacancy across Ireland.
The activities of the Vacant Homes Officers are already comprehensive, any potential expansion of their current role will be carefully reviewed and targeted and will reflect the Government’s commitment to bringing vacant properties back into use across the country.
The role of Vacant Homes Officer is wide ranging and includes (but is not limited to);
- tasks that support, implement and further develop, update, monitor and review the progress of local authorities’ Vacant Homes Action Plans and actions to address vacant private housing,
- establishing a co-ordinated approach towards the implementation of the Action Plans within each local authority,
- undertaking initial vacancy assessment exercise (drilling into available CSO / GeoDirectory data),
- carrying out or co-ordinating visual inspections / assessment of residential properties in their administrative area, with a view to identifying possible vacant recoverable homes,
- identification of the registered owners of the properties deemed to be vacant from inspection, and contacting the owners on the options available to assist in bringing their properties back into use for private or social housing purposes,
- serving as a contact point for dissemination to members of the public (including landlords), assistance and information on residential vacancy and the schemes available to re-introduce their homes into the usable housing stock,
- serving as a contact point for dissemination to interested parties of the ‘Guidance on the Reuse of Existing Buildings for Residential purposes’ (published in December 2018); and
- the collation and provision of vacant homes data to my Department’s Vacant Homes Unit on an agreed timely basis.
The Vacant Homes Officers have a number of supporting schemes to assist property owners to bring their vacant properties back into use for social housing – the Repair & Lease Scheme, the Buy and Renew Scheme or Long Term Leasing. The maximum loan for property repair available under the Repair and Leases scheme has recently been increased by my Department from €40,000 to €60,000. This funding increase will mean that property owners who cannot afford or access funding to bring their vacant stock up to standard and back into use will be able to do so to provide social housing. It has an added benefit of increasing investment and employment into the local construction and retail sectors while also providing for the regeneration of local communities.
The Vacant Homes Unit in my Department recently ran an advertising campaign in national newspapers directed at owners of vacant properties. The advertisement alerted owners to the vacant homes schemes available to them. On foot of this, we received a very strong response from the public, and as a result many Vacant Homes Officers are in the process of engaging with owners of potentially suitable properties to be brought back into use.
