Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. Under Rebuilding Ireland, the Housing Agency is actively engaged with banks and investment companies on its acquisitions programme. An acquisitions fund of €70 million, which is a revolving fund, has been established with the objective of acquiring some 1,600 units over the period to 2020 for social housing use. The agency also acquires units through other funds made available to it.

As of 31 August 2018, the agency had bids accepted on over 900 homes for acquisition. Contracts have been signed for 552 homes and 529 of these purchases have closed. The process of selling properties on to AHBs is underway, with 181 onward sales completed and other homes under caretaker lease arrangements with AHBs which allows upgrade works and tenanting to proceed in advance of the onward sale.

Properties offered to the Housing Agency may be rejected for a number of reasons such as the guide price being above unit cost limits, the property being a non-residential unit such as a holiday home or student accommodation, a lack of demand for a property in a particular area or an oversupply of social housing in an area already. Even when a property is considered appropriate by a local authority, a bid may still not go through because the property may be withdrawn or the bid not accepted.

The National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy, which I published in July, acts as an overarching roadmap and a focal point for the co-ordination and implementation of initiatives right across Government to ensure that we are utilising our existing housing stock to the fullest extent possible. The aim is to return as many recoverable vacant properties as possible back to viable use and to increase the supply of sustainable housing while also revitalising the vibrancy of local communities. Several initiatives are already targeted at bringing vacant homes back into use. More recently available data and survey work suggests a much reduced vacancy level than that recorded in Census 2016. Nevertheless, work under these various initiatives will continue, in co-operation with local authorities.

See this speech in context