Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 December 2017
51. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to take vacant properties into public ownership in view of the worsening homeless emergency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52268/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra52. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government when he will introduce measures to deal with the numbers of vacant homes here; when he will have accurate figures for same; and if extra funding will be made available for local authorities and approved housing bodies to acquire or compulsory purchase such units. [52275/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 52 together.
With regard to data on vacant homes (excluding holiday homes), Census 2016 indicates that there were 183,312 dwellings identified as vacant on the Census night of 24 April 2016. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that the levels of vacancy recorded as part of Census 2016 have significantly reduced in the interim, particularly in urban areas where many habitable homes and buildings have since been occupied.
With a view to addressing the vacancy situation, I asked all local authorities to draw up Vacant Homes Action Plans for their areas, to designate Vacant Homes Officers to co-ordinate actions on addressing vacancy, to examine Census 2016 and other more up-to-date data on vacant homes for the purpose of deriving the up to date position on vacancy in their areas, particularly in priority vacancy hotspot areas where housing demand is most acute, to engage with owners to bring empty homes back into use, and to set ambitious but realistic targets for the vacant dwellings that can be brought back into use whether for sale or rent or for social housing purposes.
In this context, I asked that the Vacant Homes Action Plans for all local authorities in the Dublin area and the other four main cities (Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford) be devised as urgently as possible with a deadline for other County Action Plans to be completed by end January 2018.
Complementary to this, my Department has introduced a number of significant measures under pillar 5 of the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan to incentivise the increased use of vacant housing stock. These initiatives include the
- Repair and Leasing Scheme (with funding of €140m in the period to 2021),
- Buy and Renew Scheme (with initial funding in the years 2017 and 2018 of up to €75m), and
- Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (revolving fund of €70m operated by the Housing Agency for the purchase of vacant buy-to-let properties on the portfolios of financial institutions for social housing use).
In terms of funding to acquire properties, supports have been made available under Rebuilding Ireland to all local authorities to deliver additional social housing stock through new construction projects and through the acquisition of new and previously owned houses/apartments for social housing use, including through working with approved housing bodies.
As part of their acquisition and development of social housing, local authorities have full scope to acquire and remediate vacant homes, alongside acquiring standard second hand homes and constructing new homes. The number of vacant homes to be acquired and remediated is a matter for local authorities to consider, in the first instance, in the context of their overall social housing delivery programmes.
I will continue to monitor opportunities for further measures to assist in addressing vacancy, including taking vacant properties into public ownership where feasible.
