Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

When we had a housing summit in September, local authority chiefs brought it to my attention about bank-led vacancy, where there was vacant stock in the possession of the banks which they felt they could bring into use for social housing. When I spoke at the conclusion of the housing summit about turning our focus away from acquisition to build by local authorities, it was to stop them competing with young couples and families in the existing market in high-demand areas. We did want local authorities to continue to pursue cases where they could get homes from banks which were not on the market and in an efficient way if they were getting them in bulk.

The Housing Agency is currently taking 440 or 450 of those 600 units onto its books. Most of those deals, just under 400 of them, have been closed. The agency is then selling them on to the housing bodies. There is absolutely more potential, which we want to pursue. The agency is already anticipating acquiring another 250 units in 2018, hopefully early in the year. It is something which the Housing Agency is continuing to pursue. There is definitely an avenue there for speedy delivery of additional stock for local authorities.