Thomas Gould
Question:234. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there is a scheme local authorities can apply to in order to resolve housing stock defects. [20706/23]
View answerWednesday, 3 May 2023
Questions (234)
Written answers
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.
Local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenanted properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations, 2019. Local authority officials and elected members have a very important role to play in this regard by making adequate budgetary provision for housing repairs and cyclical maintenance utilising the significant housing rental income available to them as part of the annual budgetary process.
Notwithstanding the legal obligations on local authorities to manage and maintain their housing stock, my Department does provide annual funding to local authorities to support their work in this area across a number of focused local authority stock improvement programmes, namely the Disabled Persons Grant Scheme/Improvement works in lieu scheme and the Remedial Works Scheme, the Voids programme, the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme,
Full details in relation to output under the various programmes up to and including 2022 are available on the department’s website and can be accessed using the links below.
Disabled Person Grants 2011 - 2022
www.gov.ie/ga/foilsiuchan/061cd-disabled-persons-grant-and-improved-works-in-lieu-schemes-allocation-and-drawdown/
Voids 2014 - 2022
www.gov.ie/en/collection/0906a-other-local-authority-housing-scheme-statistics/#voids-programme
Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme 2013 - 2022
www.gov.ie/en/publication/668c1-energy-efficiency-retrofitting-programme-expenditure-output/
Given the very significant investment into the Programmes over recent years, local authorities should 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 as set out under action 17.4 of the Housing for All Action Plan Update (November 2022). This will require the implementation of an ICT asset management system, the completion of stock condition surveys by all local authorities and the subsequent development of strategic and informed work programmes in response.
Question No. 235 answered with Question No. 221.