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

386. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government whether the cap of €30,000 imposed on his Department for refurbishment of vacant local authority units, has been lifted; the number of applications for funding for vacant social housing refurbishment that were received by his Department in 2015 and in 2016; which local authorities these were from and the number units; and the number of applications for individual units which were refused. [22801/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Exchequer funding my Department provides to prepare vacant units for re-letting is available as an additional support over and above what local authorities provide themselves towards such work. My Department’s funding is to support the authorities in tackling those houses that may require a greater level of remediation than the normal level of pre-letting repairs that is the responsibility of local authorities, as part of their ongoing repair and maintenance of local authority housing.

The funding from my Department has a particular focus on returning homes to productive use in a highly energy efficient condition, which contributes to Ireland’s targets to reduce carbon emissions and helps tackle fuel poverty. In that regard, my Department has not imposed a cap of €30,000 for the refurbishment of vacant local authority units; rather, that is the maximum funding my Department provides per unit in supporting local authorities to prepare such units for re-letting in an energy efficient condition. It should be noted that local authorities can and do contribute additional funding where appropriate.

Between 2014 and 2015, my Department provided funding of €60 million to assist local authorities in returning 5,000 vacant units to productive use, with a further €24 million being allocated to date in 2016. The programme will support the remediation of over 6,500 units between 2014 and 2016, on top of units completed by the local authorities themselves outside of the funding support from my Department.

The funding support drawn down per unit from my Department by local authorities is an average of €18,000. This reflects the fact that, as would be expected, the remediation cost ranges widely and the majority of houses require only a modest level of remediation. In recognition of the limited cases where a high level of remediation is required, my Department is also providing Exchequer funding to support local authorities in tackling more seriously derelict social houses. This programme is now underway and I expect that the average cost per unit will be somewhat above €50,000 per unit.

Between the various funding supports available from my Department, alongside the efforts of local authorities themselves, I am satisfied that local authorities are in a position to ensure that all social housing units for which there is a housing need can be returned to use.

In a limited number of cases under the programme to tackle vacant units, clarification is sought where required from local authorities on issues such as housing need, while there is also a small number of cases where the very low level of pre-letting repairs made it more appropriate to deal with the unit under normal local authority pre-letting repairs as part of their repair and maintenance work. Arising from this, while all units proposed for remediation under the 2015 programme have been funded, it is likely that two low cost units will not be funded by my Department in 2016 - in Donegal and in Tipperary - as it is more appropriate to deal with them under normal local authority pre-letting repairs. The number of units supported under the programme to tackle vacant units in 2015 and the numbers sanctioned to date for 2016 are set out in the following table.

The Government’s new housing action plan, the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness which I launched today, includes commitments in respect of the better management of social housing stock, in line with best asset management practices, so that the re-letting of vacant social housing units is achieved with minimal delay.