Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy English, for coming to the House to deal with the issue of voids. As I am conscious that he is very much on top of this whole area, I will not go into great detail. The task under the Rebuilding Ireland policy is to deliver on the social housing targets that have been set down by the Department, in agreement with all 31 local authorities, to address a number of issues with housing delivery and supply.The Minister of State has said this before, he will say it again and I would agree with him on the point that there is no single quick fix to our housing problems. There are horses for courses, there are different parts of the country and there are different sets of circumstances to be taken into account. Many interventions and many opportunities have to be looked at and seized.

I am a member of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and through Rebuilding Ireland we identified, along with the Government, that there are a number of ways we will address the delivery of housing, namely, through new builds, addressing voids, acquisition, leasing, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, the housing assistance payment, HAP, and a number of other interventions. I am particularly focusing on voids today because I am not convinced that certain targets have been delivered in addressing voids and the Minister of State will know that is the case. The issue of voids is a bit complex and it addresses issues with the ongoing inspections of social housing stock, which is an important asset for any local authority and an important State asset. We have learned a lot of lessons from how we have managed our housing stock in the past.

I am asking the Minister of State to address the issue of the 31 local authorities and the inclusion in the programme for 2019. What are the allocations from the Department in 2019 to address the voids?