Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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70. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the degree to which through various local authorities abandoned and or derelict buildings in the centres of villages or towns throughout Ireland are being used and refurbished to meet the needs of those who require affordable or local authority houses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23511/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department supports local authorities to deliver new social homes utilising vacant and derelict properties through the Buy & Renew scheme and the Repair & Leasing Scheme. To date approximately 600 new social homes have been made available under Buy & Renew and I am keen that local authorities utilise this opportunity alongside the delivery of social homes through new build projects. Full capital funding is available to the local authorities for all these delivery options.

The Repair & Leasing Scheme was also developed to assist private property owners and local authorities or approved housing bodies (AHBs), to harness the accommodation potential that exists in vacant dwellings across Ireland. The cost of the necessary repairs are met upfront by the local authority or an AHB, with the cost of the repairs being recovered from the property owner by offsetting it against the lease payment, subject to the suitability of the dwelling for social housing.

At end-2020, a total of 234 dwellings had been brought back into use under the scheme across a range of dwelling types, including over the shop properties, former bedsits, city centre terraced houses, and one-off rural dwellings. The budget allocation for the scheme in 2021 is €11 million, targeting the delivery of 170 homes.