Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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221. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the existing schemes and his proposals as outlined in Housing for All to convert existing but vacant commercial premises, including licensed premises and pubs to residential use; the timelines for the introduction of supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48874/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Government and I recognise that in order to resolve the housing crisis we need to give consideration to every viable and sustainable option at our disposal, including converting existing vacant commercial premises to residential use. The actions set out under Pathway 4 of Housing for All, "Addressing Vacancy and Efficient Use of Existing Stock", and in particular action 20.3, "Review and extend planning regulations that exempt certain vacant commercial premises from requiring planning permission to change of use for residential purposes to 2025" will help us to deliver this.

Much housing demand within Local Authorities is for smaller homes for single people. Our town centres, above shops and older building stock can provide solutions through adaptive reuse, backfilling plots in towns, converting former retail units to full occupancy and infilling derelict sites within town, city and village settings.

Under Housing for All I have committed to reviewing and extending the regulations that exempt certain vacant commercial premises, such as ‘over the shop’ type spaces, from requiring planning permission for change of use for residential purposes to 2025. This is underway will be completed by the end of the year.

However, it should be noted that under section 262(4) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, legislative proposals in relation to exempted development require the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas before they can be signed into law. I propose to submit draft legislative proposals in this regard to the Oireachtas shortly.

Tackling complex and challenging town centre renewal projects to deliver new social homes is a challenge for Local Authorities when the priority is to deliver new homes at scale to meet the need of those on waiting lists. But as Local Authority capacity is further built up to cater for increased output levels and complexities of the development process, there will be increased capacity to deliver more residential accommodation in town centres utilising existing vacant and derelict properties.

Under Housing for All, in addition to the planning exemptions mentioned, a wide range of measures are being pursued to make more efficient use of existing stock, such as:

- A new local authority-led programme to help Local Authorities buy or compulsory purchase 2,500 vacant homes in their areas which can then be sold on the open market will ensure homes don’t lie vacant.

- Reform of the Fair Deal Scheme to remove disincentives to selling or renting unused homes.

- The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund will be delivered by local authorities for the provision of serviced sites for housing, to attract people to build their own homes and to support the refurbishment of vacant properties, enabling people to live in small towns and villages, in a sustainable way.

- The Historic Towns Initiative is a capital grant scheme, operated in conjunction with the Heritage Council. The initiative will be adjusted so that there will be a particular focus ‘to encourage private owners and/or occupiers to bring vacant floor area in historic buildings back into use’ and projects ‘that address dereliction and vacancy ’. There will be an additional €2 million in funding in the 2022 scheme.

These measures are in addition to the vacant property tax and vacant site tax being pursued by the Department of Finance.