Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 September 2021
269. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average time it takes Waterford City and County Council to turn around voids; the number and rate of voids in the Waterford City and Council social housing stock; and the number of voids returned in each of the past five years in Waterford city and county. [44637/21]
View answerThe management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, responsive repairs and implementing planned maintenance programmes, is a matter for each individual local authority, in line with Section 28 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provision) Act 2009.
Notwithstanding the legal obligations on local authorities to manage and maintain their housing stock, since 2014, Exchequer funding has 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 ensuring minimal turnaround and re-let times for local authority vacant stock.
The table below provides information on the number of properties funded by my Department under the Voids Programme over the period 2016-2020. These figures do not include vacant local authority homes returned to productive use by local authorities using funding from their own resources.
|
- |
Units Returned in 2016 |
Units Returned in 2017 |
Units Returned in 2018 |
Units Returned in 2019 |
Units Returned in 2020 |
Units Returned 2016 - 2020 |
|
Waterford City & County |
90 |
52 |
20 |
55 |
93 |
310 |
Data in relation to the number and location of vacant local authority units and average turnaround times are 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. 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 2019, is available on the NOAC website at the following link:
noac.ie/noac_publications/noac-performance-indicators-report-2019/
