Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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1357. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to introduce a grant to renovate old one-off housing in rural Ireland (details supplied) to assist with the housing shortage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36028/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Pillar 5 of the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is specifically focused on utilising existing housing stock, with a key objective of ensuring that houses throughout the country and across all forms of tenure, in both the public and private sectors, is used to the optimum degree possible. An overarching action within that Pillar is a commitment to develop a National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy. This Strategy, published in July 2018, strives to provide a targeted, effective and co-ordinated approach to identifying and tackling vacancy across Ireland and contains a range of objectives and key actions which will be pursued in partnership with stakeholders and agencies across the housing sector to address vacancy in our housing stock.

Capital funding is provided to local authorities to acquire a range of properties for social housing use. The properties involved can range from those in good condition to those that need remediation and may have been vacant. To ensure a local-led response to such work, responsibility for property acquisitions is delegated to local authorities. To further assist local authorities pursuing vacant properties, funding is available through the Buy & Renew Scheme to facilitate local authorities in acquiring and remediating vacant properties that may be suitable for social housing. As with standard acquisitions, local authorities have delegated responsibility to utilise the Buy and Renew Scheme, as part of the blend of property acquisitions, as appropriate to their area, given housing need and the availability of properties of different types.

The Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) has been developed under Pillar 5 to assist private property owners and local authorities or Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) to harness the accommodation potential that exists in certain vacant properties across Ireland. The scheme is targeted at owners of vacant properties who cannot afford or access the funding needed to bring their properties up to the required standard for rental property. Subject to the suitability of the property for social housing, and the agreement of the property owner, the cost of the necessary repairs will be met upfront by the relevant local authority or an Approved Housing Body (AHB). As part of the agreement, the property owner then leases the dwelling to the local authority for use as social housing for a length that is linked to the value of the repairs but subject to a minimum of 5 years. The value of the repairs is offset incrementally against the agreed rental payment over a defined period within the lease. The RLS is available in all local authorities, in both rural and urban areas. However, it is a condition of the scheme that the property is an area with a social housing need and fulfils social housing demand.

Property owners may also qualify for schemes such as the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) and the Better Energy Homes Scheme. The HRI enables owners to claim tax relief on repairs, renovations or improvement works that are carried out on their main home or rental property. Information on this scheme is available from the Revenue Commissioners or at www.revenue.ie. The Better Energy Homes Scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) to help homeowners and landlords reduce their energy costs and emissions by providing grants towards insulation, heating control and solar thermal improvements on homes occupied and built before 2006. Further details on grant payments and qualifying works are available from the SEAI website at www.seai.ie.