Thomas Gould
Question:210. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has considered reform of the voids scheme given its failings [12067/22]
View answerThursday, 3 March 2022
Questions (210)
Written answers
My Department is focused on ensuring that the existing housing stock is utilised to the fullest extent possible. The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, responsive repairs and implementing planned maintenance programmes, is however a matter for each individual local authority, under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966.
Notwithstanding the legal obligations on local authorities to manage and maintain their own housing stock, my Department provides Exchequer funding to support local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting under the Voids Programme. Introduced in 2014 with the original aim of tackling long term vacant units, the programme is now increasingly targeted at ensuring minimal turnaround and re-let times for local authority vacant stock.
From 2014 to 2021, expenditure of some €261 million was recouped to local authorities under the Voids Programme which funded the return to productive use of 18,527 properties nationwide. Local authorities also provide significant funding from their own resources to address the level of vacancy within the social housing stock.
There has been extensive funding provided particularly over the last two years under the Voids programme which not only catered for standard relets but also for vacant properties requiring more extensive works prior to relet. It is up to each local authority to submit a programme of works based on their individual allocation or targets.
In 2020, €56.4m exchequer funding was provided to bring a total of 3,607 vacant homes back into productive use within the social housing stock. This represents the highest ever yearly spend and the highest number of homes to be refurbished under the voids programme. Within this programme local authorities had the opportunity to remediate long term vacant properties (houses vacant over 12 months) the funding for which was uncapped.
In 2021, the Voids programme also catered for a non-standard refurbishment option which allowed local authorities claim an average of €50,000 funding in this category (no vacancy limit). Full details in relation to output up to and including the 2021 programme is available on the link below.
www.gov.ie/en/collection/0906a-other-local-authority-housing-scheme-statistics/#voids-programme.
As per Circular 17/2021, and in line with previous year’s programmes, local authorities were notified that only the minimum works required to comply with the Housing (Private Rented Standards) Regulations, 2019 should be carried out so as to ensure properties are turned around as quickly as possible and to maximise the budget available. Furthermore, my Department receives regular updates on the status of each local authority’s programme of works and actively encourages the remediation of all local authority owned vacant properties as expeditiously as possible.
My Department will continue to support local authorities in their work in this area in 2022. As a result of the significant investment by the Department in the Voids Programme since 2014 and particularly in 2020 and 2021, local authorities should be in a strong position to begin the transition to a strategic and informed planned maintenance approach to stock management and maintenance. To that end my Department and local authorities are working to transition from a largely response and voids based approach to housing stock management and maintenance to a planned maintenance approach. This will require the completion of stock condition surveys by all local authorities and the subsequent development of strategic and informed work programmes in response. My Department will support these work programmes by ensuring that the funding available under the various stock improvement programmes are aligned with this approach.