Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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732. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number and location of units purchased by Galway City Council and Galway County Council under the buy-and-renew scheme; the number that have been made available for social housing; the expected date by which the remaining units will be available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42848/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Buy & Renew initiative is in the early stages of being implemented across all local authorities.   However, we are seeing positive signs of its potential to deliver new social housing units, in addition to the other advantages it can bring of supporting strategies on vacant homes and urban renewal.  

Its implementation as part of the range of programmes to deliver social housing and tackle vacancy are matters, in the first place, for the local authorities themselves. I understand that both Galway local authorities have undertaken promotional and awareness campaigns following the introduction of the Buy & Renew and Repair & Lease initiatives. I further understand they are pursuing some properties identified through this process, while others may not prove suitable. I recognise that achieving social housing delivery through schemes such as Buy & Renew is likely to be more resource-intensive for the local authorities than other delivery streams, such as acquiring good quality housing. Sourcing the owners of vacant properties and undertaking remediation works will draw on resources, albeit it can present new sources of properties for social housing while tackling vacancy.

Both the Galway authorities are actively engaged in identifying properties suitable for acquisition, including properties in reasonable condition and vacant properties under the Buy & Renew Scheme. In the period since 2016, they have been successful in acquiring over 50 new social homes in various locations, 5 of which are under the Buy & Renew Scheme.

I have requested the local authorities in the main cities to develop and adopt Vacant Homes Action Plans by the end of October, with a deadline for all other County Action Plans to be completed by end-2017. I expect the preparation of these Plans will assist the authorities in developing a fuller understanding of the current vacancy levels in their functional areas, to ascertain where empty homes are located and who owns these vacant properties, and then to prioritise and target those areas where housing demand is most acute.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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733. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of properties acquired by Galway City Council and Galway County Council in relation to the repair and leasing scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42849/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) was piloted in Carlow and Waterford and has been rolled out nationally since 23 February last. My Department has been working intensively with local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to develop and implement the scheme and individual targets have been set for local authorities for 2017. The scheme is one of a suite of measures available to local authorities to bring vacant properties back into use.

Data for Galway City Council and Galway County Council, based on the first full three months of activity of the scheme at end June 2017, are set out in the following table.While no Agreements to Lease have been signed to date, the process of finalising units is underway and I expect a number of agreements will be signed shortly. My Department is currently gathering data from local authorities in order to report progress in Quarter 3.

Feedback from local authorities indicates that in many cases properties requiring extensive repair work and therefore not suitable for the RLS, have been secured under the Buy and Renew Scheme which facilitates local authorities or approved housing bodies to purchase vacant properties for social housing use.