Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

20. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government why he places a limit of €30,000 when considering applications for the funding of vacant housing units owned by local authorities and long-term voids, given that there is such a large number of vacant social housing units in each local authority area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44123/15]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The funding support that my Department provides for local authorities to return vacant social housing units to use is directed at units where remediation costs greatly exceed the normal end-of-lease maintenance costs. While the costs that local authorities might need to incur are not capped, support from my Department is subject to a limit of €30,000 per unit.  This funding is not a substitute for the normal responsibilities of local authorities for maintaining their social housing properties and the standard end-of-lease maintenance they undertake is often sufficient to prepare a unit for early re-letting. Support is provided in respect of the additional costs that arise where remediation costs are higher than normal. The average exchequer contribution to local authorities under this programme is €14,800 per unit. 2,333 units were returned under the programme in 2014, on top of units repaired using local authorities’ own resources. In 2015, funding has been made available to support the return of up to 2,500 further units, which covers all of the suitable units that the local authorities have identified.

I recognise that there are other social housing units where there is a greater level of dereliction than can be addressed with the support currently available under the standard programme to remediate vacant units. Accordingly, my Department has also commenced a new programme to support local authorities to tackle those more extensively damaged units. The number of such units is relatively small but, nonetheless, this new funding programme will allow even more units that have been out of commission for many years to be brought back into use. The new programme will be rolled out in early 2016.