Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2023
347. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the subvention to local authorities for void housing units will be reduced from 25% to 20%; if so, the rationale for reducing the subvention; his views on the overall reduction from 65% subvention in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46693/23]
View answerThe 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 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 housing rental income available to them as part of the annual budgetary process.
Since 2014, Exchequer funding has also been provided through my Department's Voids Programme to supplement the local authority funding available for the preparation of vacant properties for re-letting. The funding was introduced originally to tackle long-term vacant units and is now increasingly targeted to support authorities to ensure minimal turnaround and re-let times for vacant stock.
The emphasis of the programme is on minimum refurbishment works to comply with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 to ensure quick turnaround and re-letting times. There is no specific subvention at 25% as per the question and therefore, the question of a reduction does not arise. Under the Voids programme, local authorities select properties for the programme and there is no upper cap on the amount that can be spent on an individual unit, providing the total amount averaged across all dwellings submitted by a local authority does not exceed €11,000.
From 2020 to the end of 2022, expenditure of some €117.5 million has been recouped to local authorities under the Voids Programme which funded the return to productive use of 8,339 social homes nationwide.
Furthermore, where local authorities complete the suite of works applicable to the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme, additional funding to a maximum of €48,850 is available. This represents a significant increase in the funding available to local authorities when compared to funding available in 2018.
Given the very significant investment into the Voids Programme over recent years, local authorities should now be in a strong position to continue 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 referenced in Housing for All, policy objective 20.6. 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.
