Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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161. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if consideration is being given to introducing compulsory leasing orders for appropriate vacant properties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6221/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The use of Compulsory Leasing Orders as a possible means of re-utilising vacant properties was proposed at a presentation to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government last week by the Peter McVerry Trust in the context of discussions on addressing the issue of vacant housing, derelict sites and underused spaces. The Trust indicated that it supported the use of such Orders, where ownership of vacant properties would not change but local authorities would be empowered to take over the management of a property for a specified period and under certain strict criteria for the common good, including the provision of social housing. Under the proposal, the property owner would receive rent for the period of the Order, minus the costs of upgrading and managing the building.

As the Deputy is aware, Pillar 5 of the Government’s Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness – Rebuilding Ireland is specifically focused on Utilising Existing Housing Stock, with a key objective of ensuring that the existing vacant housing stock throughout the country and across all forms of tenure, in both the public and private sectors, is used to the optimum degree possible. In this regard, Action 5.1 of Rebuilding Ireland commits to developing a National Vacant Housing Re-Use Strategy by the first quarter of 2017, informed by Census 2016 data, to

- inform the compilation of a register of vacant units across the country,

- identify the number, location and reasons for longer-term vacancies (i.e. over 6 months) in high demand areas, and

- set out a range of actions to bring vacant units back into reuse.

The Housing Agency, which has lead responsibility for co-ordinating the development of the Strategy, established a working group in September 2016 comprising senior representatives from my Department, local authorities, the Irish Council for Social Housing and from the Housing Agency itself to inform the Strategy. The proposal to use Compulsory Leasing Orders as possible means of re-utilising vacant properties will be considered by the Working Group in the context of finalising the Strategy.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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162. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the progress that has been made on a vacant property register; the work his Department is progressing with regards to vacant properties, including those vacant due to the fair deal scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6222/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Pillar 5 of the Government's Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness - Rebuilding Ireland is specifically focused on Utilising Existing Housing Stock, with a key objective of ensuring that the existing vacant housing stock throughout the country and across all forms of tenure, in both the public and private sectors, is used to the optimum degree possible. In this regard, Action 5.1 of Rebuilding Ireland commits to the development of a National Vacant Housing Re-Use Strategy by the first quarter of 2017, informed by Census 2016 data, to

- inform the compilation of a register of vacant units across the country,

- identify the number, location and reasons for longer-term vacancies (i.e. over 6 months) in high demand areas, and

- set out a range of actions to bring vacant units back into reuse

To this end, the Housing Agency, which has lead responsibility for co-ordinating the development of the Strategy, has established a working group, comprising senior representatives from my Department, local authorities and from the Housing Agency itself to inform the Strategy.

In addition, Action 17 of the Strategy for the Rental Sectorcommits my Department to examining 'the treatment under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS) financial assessment of income from the rental of a person’s principal private residence where they move into long-term residential care'. My Department has been in contact with the Department of Health in the context of implementation of the review of the NHSS and is considering whether potential options can be put forward to adjust the treatment of rental income from properties in the Fair Deal scheme in order to make their letting a more attractive option, rather than leaving them empty.

With regard to the establishment of registers of vacant sites, the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015, enacted in July 2015, introduced the vacant site levy, which is aimed at incentivising the development of vacant, under-utilised sites in urban areas. Under the Act, planning authorities are required to establish a vacant site register in their areas, beginning on 1 January 2017, and to issue annual notices to owners of vacant sites by 1 June 2018 in respect of vacant sites on the register on 1 January 2018. The levy will be applied by planning authorities, commencing on 1 January 2019, in respect of sites which were vacant and on the vacant site register during the year 2018 and will subsequently be applied on an annual basis thereafter, as long as a site remains on the vacant site register in the preceding year.

Planning authorities are presently engaging in the necessary preparatory work prior to the application of the levy, commencing with the establishment of their local vacant site registers and the identification of sites for possible inclusion in their registers.