Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1285. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of vacant social houses brought back into productive use with aid from his Department in each of the years 2015 to 2016, and to date in 2017; the estimated number of long-term voids and short-term vacant social housing units to date in each local authority. [33713/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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2,696 and 2,090 vacant social homes were brought back into productive use in 2015 and 2016, respectively, with funding assistance from my Department.

To date in 2017, funding has been provided in respect of remediation for 115 vacant social homes and, based on proposals submitted by the local authorities, I anticipate this number to be around 1,400 by year-end.  The distribution of these numbers across the local authorities is set out on my Department’s website at the following link: .

As well as the above numbers of vacant social homes requiring significant remediation, there is a regular turnover of short-term vacancies in the social housing stock of local authorities. In general, these vacancies are addressed by the local authorities and given that these numbers alter on an ongoing basis, for example as tenants move in and out of housing, my Department does not record such numbers.