Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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199. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of repair and leasing units and buy and renew units delivered to date. [3624/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department is currently finalising and validating data from local authorities in order to report detailed progress on the Repair and Leasing Scheme in the final quarter of 2017. This will be published shortly. By the end Quarter 3 of 2017, a total of 292 dwellings had been deemed suitable and local authorities were negotiating with properties owners; a further 231 dwellings were being inspected for suitability by local authorities; 18 Agreements to Lease had been signed.

In relation to the Buy and Renew Scheme, my Department provides funding to local authorities to acquire a range of properties for social housing use, from those in good condition to those that need remediation and may have been vacant. During 2017, provisional information shows that funding provided by my Department to local authorities supported around 70 such homes under the scheme. I expect that over the course of 2018, further progress will be made in this area as local authorities close sales on properties identify during 2017 and put in place arrangements for their remediation to make them suitable for social housing use.

Tackling vacancy continues to be a key focus and, in that context, I announced a range of improvements to the existing Repair and Leasing scheme on 22 January 2018 following the second Housing Summit with Local Authority Chief Executives. I will be publishing details of these improvements shortly.