Dáil debates
Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Vacant Properties
9:22 am
Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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In the dying days of Tralee Town Council, there was a focus on housing for the elderly. A scheme was enacted in respect of land at the rear of an old convent in the centre of town that was gifted by the Sisters of Mercy. The development there is called Tobar Naofa. I visited the area last week. There are 56 housing units constructed to the highest specifications, with their own heating system, which also covers some other houses in the area. It has come to my attention that ten of those 56 houses are vacant.
Until 2014, there was a housing officer designated for the town of Tralee. Now, it is not the case that each municipal district looks after its own housing stock and emergency accommodation and homeless; rather, it is the done for the whole county. Back in 2014, however, there was a particular focus. Since then, when we are have sought housing, particularly for people who are single, separated, elderly, we have been told there is a massive shortage because the Government basically stopped the construction of social housing and there was no focus on it. The reliance on the market meant there were many three-bedroom semi-detached houses but no one-bedroom or two-bedroom houses. This is a most pressing need but ten of the houses to which I refer are currently vacant.
Kerry County Council states that none of those houses or apartments have been vacant for longer than ten months but that is not the case. I can provide details in that regard. I have looked into it and the same thing can be seen throughout the county. I am aware of a house in Killarney that was sold back to the council under a particular scheme three and a half years ago. There are weeds growing up through the garden of that house in Ballyspillane. There are other houses in Ballyspillane that the council owns but they have not been maintained because the funding stream is not there. The freedom the old town councils had is no longer there. It seems that everything has to be channelled through a particular funding stream or else it cannot be done.
Since I looked into the position regarding Tobar Naofa, it has come to my attention that the residents of three or four of the houses there are in long-term care. It was interesting to hear Deputy Murnane O'Connor speaking about the fair deal scheme. There are three or four other apartments the residents of which are participants on the fair deal scheme. It is a sensitive issue but apparently the resident of one of those houses has been in a nursing home for three years under the fair deal scheme. I am not sure what kind of management of the housing stock in the county is going on, but surely, given the sensitivities, a meeting must be held.
In effect, almost 25% of the 56 houses in question are vacant. These are one-bedroom and two-bedroom top-specification houses for the elderly. They are not like some older houses that were built in the 1970s or 1980s that might need to have windows and doors replaced. All they need is to be painted and for the electrics to be checked. They should be turned around within weeks rather than months but that is not happening. Who or what is managing the situation?
Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I will read out the written response and then address the specific case raised by the Deputy. With the ever-increasing demand for social housing accommodation to meet housing need, the management of vacant properties in local authorities is an important function. In accordance with section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, local authorities are legally responsible for the management and maintenance of their housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of planned maintenance programmes and the carrying out of responsive repairs.
Statistics published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC, in its annual report on performance indicators in local authorities and relating to 2021, show that there are more than 140,000 local authority-owned social housing properties in the State. The proper management and maintenance of these State assets by local authorities is important. Returns from local authorities in 2022 indicated that 5,200 local authority properties, or less than 4% of the overall stock, were vacant on 1 January last year. However, it is important that any potential to get vacant units back into use quickly is pursued by local authorities with the utmost speed. The Deputy has highlighted examples in that regard.
Although local authorities have an obligation to manage and maintain their stock from their own funding, my Department supports bringing a targeted amount of vacant local authority dwellings back to use as quickly as possible each year through the voids programme, which is an additional support to local authorities in tackling vacant properties.
This programme was originally introduced 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 identified under the voids programme, separate from the Department's social housing regeneration programme.
With regard to Kerry County Council, as of the 31 December 2021, again in the context of the latest NOAC report, the percentage of the total number of local authority-owned dwellings that were vacant was 3.51%, making it the 19th lowest rate nationally out of 31 local authorities and slightly above the national average of 3.16% for local authority stock according to NOAC figures. I looked at the report. Total housing stock was 4,390. If we take 3.51%, we are looking at approximately 154 houses vacant at the end of December.
From 2014 to 2021, expenditure of €8 million was recouped by Kerry County Council under the voids programme, which funded the return to productive use of 723 units. If the Deputy looks at the report, he will see that it shows that 40 of those units were returned in 2022 and 50 were returned in 2021. The report is a public document.
With the available Exchequer support, I am keen that Kerry County Council and all other councils tackle vacancies and minimise turnaround times in order that properties can be re-let to those on the waiting lists. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, wrote to all local authorities last October requesting that they implement, as a matter of urgency, the appropriate range of measures to reduce the level of vacant stock and the time involved in letting new stock or re-letting existing stock.
Deputy Daly referred to Tobar Naofa, which comprises 56 units. He said that 46 of those are occupied but that three or four of the residents are in nursing homes. We can follow up on that matter.
I have outlined the overall situation in Kerry, but we can follow up the specific issue with Kerry County Council. If the Deputy wants to make a formal submission on it to me, we can communicate directly with the council on it.
9:32 am
Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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I read the Minister of State's reply, but what is not stated is the average length of time it takes Kerry County Council to turn around a vacant house. I understand that we have to deal with families and that there are items left behind, which is sometimes the case. In Tobar Naofa, there are ten units are vacant. One vacant house facing onto the Dean's Lane side of the complex has been vacant for two years. It was constructed eight or nine years ago and would not need significant work in order to turn it around. Someone may have had a painting on the wall. Perhaps needs a lick of paint, but that is about the height of it.
There is another problem in that the council does not employ any painters. There may be a problem getting painters, but it is not acceptable to have such a long delay. It may very well be the case that the figures are as low as possible, as the Minister of State outlined, but I do not think that is the case. The turnaround time seems to be at least nine to 12 months. That might be okay where a complete retrofit is required, but it is not acceptable for all houses. Are targets being set by the Government to make sure that houses are turned around as quickly as possible?
My view is that the abolition of the town councils has been a disaster for all types of housing management, in particular in Tralee, Killarney and Listowel. I dealt with a man from another part of Kerry recently who was made homeless. He was told that the only emergency accommodation is in the town of Tralee. That seems to have been the case for a long time. Even if a person is living on the Ring of Kerry or in north Kerry, the only place available is 40 miles or 50 miles away from their homeplace. That is not what is required. We need to do better.
Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the point the Deputy raises. I have listened very carefully to him.
With regard to the voids programme, my Department is satisfied that Kerry County Council has been well supported in its efforts to bring social housing stock back into much-needed productive use. Given the significant investment in the voids programme over recent years, local authorities should be in a strong position to begin the transition to a strategic and informed planned maintenance approach to stock management and maintenance. To this end, the Department and local authorities are working to transition from a largely responsive and voids-based approach to housing stock management and maintenance, to a planned maintenance approach, as referenced in policy objective 20.6 of Housing for All. 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.
The Minister wrote to all local authorities last October on the issue of voids, seeking for them to expedite the process. There will be a further follow-up to put in place a proactive programme that would look at individual properties to see what can be returned to use. We cannot have a situation where we have properties left vacant for an inordinate length of time. The Deputy accepts that certain properties will take time but we will certainly follow up the case he highlights in Tobar Naofa with Kerry County Council.
The process has started this year and a further €5 million in funding has been ring-fenced for planned maintenance under this year's planned maintenance-voids programme to support the implementation of an ICT asset management system for the local authority sector and to provide a funding contribution for the commencement of stock condition surveys. That very much feeds into the point highlighted by the Deputy. We need local authorities to get granular in respect of individual properties. If there is a genuine case for work taking time, that is fine, but we cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach. The Deputy can take it that we are very much on the same page. We want to see voids returned as quickly as possible. The process is moving from being a responsive one by the local authorities to a proactive one so that at all times they will have a minimum level of vacant stock within the system.
Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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With the permission of the House I will take the fourth matter before the third because the relevant Minister is not yet present. Is that agreed? Agreed.