Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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788. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the monetary limits to be spent on refurbishing local authority units; the reason these limits are set; the number of voids that have not been upgraded due to these limits; the length of time they have been empty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6902/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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Dealing with vacancies that occur within existing social housing stock is a normal part of the management function of local authorities. My Department places no monetary limits on what a local authority spends on refurbishing such units. However, in 2014 my Department recognised that a backlog of such units had built up over several years and, accordingly, introduced a funding programme to support the efforts that local authorities make through their own resources in this regard. The programme is co-funded by the exchequer and the EU Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020. This programme provides support to local authorities for a range of remediation works, including insulation, heating works, window/door replacement, kitchen installation, electrical and plumbing, painting and gutters/waste services. In the case of each property, the amount funded to local authorities depends on the works they undertake and that varies in every case. As the funding from my Department is a support to local authorities in carrying out their work on stock maintenance and re-letting vacant units, it is open to local authorities to carry out additional works if they so decide. The funding from my Department and the EU in these cases is at a combined, overall total of €30,000 per social housing unit. In the two years since this funding programme was introduced, over 5,000 units have been supported nationally and returned to use at a cost of some €60 million.

To complement the funding under the programme for vacant units, my Department has also initiated a new programme to support local authorities dealing with social housing units that are in need of a greater level of remediation and that are, in some cases, derelict properties. The ongoing maintenance of social housing carried out by local authorities means that there will not be high numbers of such units, but where such properties are repairable and lettable, local authorities will be supported to remediate them with exchequer allocations which will be made shortly.

Feedback from local authorities in respect of the programme to support the return of vacant units is that the funding made available since 2014 has provided valuable assistance in dealing with such units and that significant progress has been made in tackling the backlog. In the same vein, the programme to tackle more derelict units will also provide key support for local authorities to maximise the use of their stock for those on the waiting list and I am confident, therefore, that social housing units that are lettable and repairable are not restricted from being returned to use by virtue of the range of supports my Department provides.