Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 September 2021
179. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the turnaround time for vacant council houses in Cork city has now reached 64 weeks; and his plans to work with the local authority to reduce same. [46403/21]
View answerWhile my Department is focused on ensuring that existing housing stock is utilised to its fullest extent, the 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.
To ensure these properties are turned around as quickly as possible and to maximise the budget available local authorities were notified that only the minimum works required to comply with the Housing (Private Rented Standards) Regulations, 2019 should be carried out. My Department will continue to actively encourage local authorities to ensure all vacant properties in their stock are brought back into productive use as expeditiously as possible.
Data in relation to 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/
