In 2009 the Department issued guidance to local authorities on the use of unsold affordable properties (USAs) to provide social housing. Whilst the original intention was that these properties would be sold on as affordable homes once demand increased to a level that would stimulate a sale, following the financial crash, developments in the housing market resulted in significantly reduced demand for affordable housing and a build-up of unsold affordable housing units in a number of localauthrity areas.
A data collection exercise in 2020 identified over 2,000 USAs across 19 local authorities with outstanding loans to the Housing Finance Agency (HFA). These units are currently occupied by social housing tenants.
Following discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, €54,918,210 voted capital funding was used in December 2021 to bring 319 of these unsold affordable units fully into local authority stock by repaying the HFA debt on those units. Details of these units are as follows:
Local Authority
|
Housing Units
|
Loan Repayment
|
Carlow County Council
|
17
|
€2,795,392.00
|
Cork City
|
29
|
€5,295,623.00
|
Cork County
|
20
|
€2,800,592.00
|
Donegal County Council
|
2
|
€211,220.00
|
Dublin City Council
|
37
|
€7,154,231.00
|
Fingal County Council
|
31
|
€7,181,196.00
|
Galway City Council
|
27
|
€3,229,807.00
|
Kerry County Council
|
5
|
€857,664.00
|
Kildare County Council
|
19
|
€2,905,580.00
|
Laois County Council
|
21
|
€3,080,006.00
|
Louth County Council
|
16
|
€2,859,788.00
|
Mayo County Council
|
2
|
€558,448.00
|
Meath County Council
|
25
|
€2,596,046.00
|
Offaly County Council
|
6
|
€989,847.00
|
Roscommon County Council
|
6
|
€695,939.00
|
South Dublin County Council
|
31
|
€6,891,895.00
|
Tipperary County Council
|
2
|
€282,609.00
|
Waterford City & County Council
|
5
|
€878,116.00
|
Westmeath County Council
|
18
|
€3,654,211.00
|