Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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352. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of each type of void being provided under the 2020 voids stimulus programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25337/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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There has been very strong local authority uptake in the Voids programme as a result of the funding I announced in the July stimulus programme. Submissions from all 31 local authorities were received and were reviewed by my Department promptly with over €39.9m allocated to return 2,402 vacant homes.

The number of void in each category is broken down as follows:

- Standard Void: 1,826

- Homeless Void: 279

- Long Term Void: 297

My Department is working with local authorities to ensure that these vacant homes are refurbished and allocated this year.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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353. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the definition of a homeless void; the way the definition was formulated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25338/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Voids are vacant social housing properties which are in need of refurbishment in order to bring them up to the minimum letting standards.

The Voids Programme provides exchequer funding to support local authorities in remediating such vacant homes. The exchequer funding provided by my Department is additional to the funding that local authorities provide themselves towards such work.

Based on the level of funding made available under the July Voids Stimulus Programme and to achieve the maximum impact across all local authorities, a three-pronged approach was implemented: Standard Void, Homeless Void and Long term Void.

The Homeless Void does not relate to a particular type of local authority property, but rather to the type of household who will be allocated the property. Properties refurbished under the homeless voids category must be allocated to a household deemed homeless by the local authority. It is a matter for each local authority to identify homeless households to whom the properties will be allocated.

The maximum funding provision under this category is €20,000 per unit which reflects the extra works/supports required over above the normal standard voids funding stream. My Department has to date approved funding to refurbish and allocate 279 vacant properties under this Voids Stimulus Programme.