David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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267. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of houses in Waterford City and County returned to market through the repair and lease scheme in each of the past five years. [44635/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Data on delivery under the repair and lease scheme in respect of all local authorities to end Q1 2021 is published on my Department’s website at the following link:

www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/#repair-and-leasing-scheme-rls

The figures for Waterford are as follows:

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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268. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of private homes purchased by local authorities and added to the social housing stock through the buy and renew scheme for Waterford city and county in each of the past five years and each quarter in 2020 and to date in 2021. [44636/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Buy & Renew Scheme makes capital funding available to local authorities to facilitate them in acquiring and remediating vacant properties that may be suitable for social housing.

Housing for All has a strong emphasis on tackling vacancy and I have asked local authorities to increasingly target vacant and derelict properties that can be brought back to use as part of new public housing delivery, particularly where good value for money can be obtained and I have assured them of my Department's support in this regard. Waterford City and County Council is actively pursuing opportunities to deliver new social housing through acquiring and remediating vacant properties and utilises the Buy & Renew Scheme for this purpose, as well as the Repair & Lease Scheme.

Below is a breakdown of the number of properties brought back into use under the Buy & Renew Scheme by Waterford City and County Council in each of the past five years and for each quarter in 2020 and to date in 2021. Approved Housing Bodies also use the Buy & Renew Scheme with funding through the Capital Assistance Scheme, to purchase and remediate vacant properties and such delivery carried out in collaboration with the Council, is also included in the breakdown below.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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269. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the average time it takes Waterford City and County Council to turn around voids; the number and rate of voids in the Waterford City and Council social housing stock; and the number of voids returned in each of the past five years in Waterford city and county. [44637/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, responsive repairs and implementing planned maintenance programmes, is a matter for each individual local authority, in line with Section 28 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provision) Act 2009.

Notwithstanding the legal obligations on local authorities to manage and maintain their housing stock, since 2014, Exchequer funding has been provided through my Department's Voids Programme to support local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting. This funding was initially introduced to tackle long term vacant units and is now increasingly targeted at ensuring minimal turnaround and re-let times for local authority vacant stock.

The table below provides information on the number of properties funded by my Department under the Voids Programme over the period 2016-2020. These figures do not include vacant local authority homes returned to productive use by local authorities using funding from their own resources.

Data in relation to the number and location of vacant local authority units and average turnaround times are not collated by my Department. However, statistics in relation to the social housing stock are published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) in their Annual Reports on Performance Indicators in Local Authorities. These reports provide a range of information in relation to social housing stock, including the average time taken to re-tenant a dwelling. The most recent report, relating to 2019, is available on the NOAC website at the following link:

noac.ie/noac_publications/noac-performance-indicators-report-2019/