Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Andrews for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne.

Critically, the management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, implementing planned maintenance programmes and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters solely for each individual local authority under the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities are also statutorily obliged to ensure all of their tenanted properties comply with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. That said, and notwithstanding that local authority officials and elected representatives are responsible for making adequate funding provision for repairs and cyclical maintenance using the significant rental income available to them, the Department of housing provides annual funding under the current planned maintenance and voids programme to complement local authority works. The programme focuses on the prompt turnaround and re-letting of vacated homes. To this end, it supports only works necessary to comply with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations. Non-essential works are not supported, as these should be undertaken under the local authority’s own planned maintenance programme.

Over €91 million has been provided to Dublin City Council since 2014, supporting the refurbishment and re-let of some 5,700 social homes. A further €4 million will be provided to support the prompt turnaround of 348 casual vacancies under the programme this year. The funding provided to local authorities over the last decade or so has tackled a large number of long-term vacant stock and brought them back into use. This has helped pave the way for local authorities to transition to a more appropriate approach to housing maintenance, involving full stock condition surveys of all local authority homes, strategic and informed planned maintenance work programmes, and better value for money by tackling large numbers of homes in single contracts rather than home by home. Some €10 million has been ring-fenced for local authorities to commence and continue the transition from a largely responsive and voids-based approach to a planned maintenance approach based on planned work programmes. Some €1.8 million of this is available to Dublin City Council.

Ultimately, data on the quantum of vacant local authority and approved housing body social homes are a matter for, and can be obtained from, the respective authorities and AHBs. That said, local authority social housing stock statistics are published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC, in its annual reports on performance indicators in local authorities. These reports provide a range of data, including vacancy levels and average turnaround times for re-letting properties. The latest report for 2024 indicates that the Dublin City Council vacancy rate stands at 2.28%, with an average turnaround time of 23 weeks. This a good bit below the average of 2.75% and 35 weeks, respectively, across local authorities.

Responsibility for managing and maintaining local authority social homes remains the responsibility of the respective authorities. That said, the Department of housing will continue to complement local authority efforts in the coming years, securing a strategic approach to managing social homes. To this end, a revamped programme focusing on the prompt turnaround of casual vacant stock, reducing vacancy rates and turnaround times further, will be rolled out early in 2026.