John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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487. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government when he expects to publish a new national vacant housing re-use strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20289/17]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Pillar 5 of the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, published in July 2016, 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 optimal degree possible. In this regard, Action 5.1 of Rebuilding Ireland commits to the development of a National Vacant Housing Re-Use Strategy, 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 re-use.

To this end, 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 and from the Housing Agency itself to inform the Strategy. The Working Group is presently concluding its deliberations on recommendations to be incorporated in the Strategy, with a view to facilitating and incentivising the greater re-utilisation of vacant properties. While a short delay arose, as the Group awaited the publication of 2016 Census data on housing on 20th April to ensure access to the most up-to-date and comprehensive data, it is expected that the Strategy will be published later this month.