Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
820. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider granting local authorities the permission to carry out works on voids year-round rather than waiting for the scheme to open. [41711/22]
View answer821. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of voids that have been vacant for over 12, over 18, over 24 and over 36 months by local authority; and if consideration will be given to an extended voids scheme to bring these back into use. [41712/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 820 and 821 together.
The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Therefore, local authorities should be carrying out voids works year round utilising funding from their own resources.
Notwithstanding the legal obligation on local authorities, exchequer funding has also been provided through my Department's Voids Programme to support local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting. This funding was introduced in 2014, originally to tackle long term vacant units and is now increasingly targeted to support authority's to ensure minimal turnaround and re-let times for 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. This does not include the funding provided through the local authorities own resources to address the level of vacancy within the social housing stock.
My Department continues to support local authorities in their work in this area in 2022. However, as result of the significant investment by my Department in the Voids Programme, particularly in 2020 and 2021, local authorities should also now 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 is aligned with this approach.
To note, local authorities will always have a level of vacancy in their housing stock. This will fluctuate over time, as tenancy surrender and re-letting of stock is an ongoing process.
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 level of vacancy and by local authority. The most recent report, relating to 2020, is available on the NOAC website at the following link:
noac.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NOAC-Local-Authority-Performance-Indicator-Report-2020.pdf
Further details in relation to vacancy periods should be available upon request from each local authority.
