Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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94. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of vacant homes in County Louth that Louth County Council applied for voids funding to bring back into use in each of the years 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021; the number of units Louth County Council has successfully brought back into use over the same period which are now occupied or ready for allocation; if a breakdown of the figures between north Louth, mid Louth and south Louth will be provided to compare the number of units applied for against the total number of available vacant units in council stock; the number of vacant council homes across the county at present by location; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54801/21]

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, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 28 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provision) Act 2009.

Notwithstanding this, under the Voids Programme, my Department provides funding support to local authorities to supplement their own budgetary provisions for the management and maintenance of their housing stock and for the preparation of vacant homes for re-letting. This funding was introduced originally to tackle long term vacant units and is now increasingly targeted to support authorities to ensure minimal turnaround and re-let times for vacant stock. 

The following table outlines submissions, approvals and remediation numbers for Louth County Council for the period 2019-2021. Please note that the number of properties remediated for 2021 will not be known until the end of the year when the programme has been closed and reconciliation complete.

Submissions, approvals and remediation numbers for Louth County Council for the period 2019-2021

A breakdown of vacancy by region within Louth is not available from my Department.

Local authorities will always have a level of vacancy in their housing stock. This will fluctuate over time, as tenancy surrender and re-letting of stock is an ongoing process. Therefore, ongoing data in relation to vacant local authority owned homes are not collated by my Department.

However, statistics in relation to social housing stock, at a point in time, 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 levels of vacancy in local authority owned properties. The most recent report, relating to 2020, is available on the NOAC website at the following link:

noac.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NOAC-Local-Authority-Performance-Indicator-Report-2020.pdf

It is important to note that my Department and local authorities supported by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) are working to transition from a largely response and voids based approach to housing stock management and maintenance to a planned maintenance approach as referenced in Housing for All, policy objective 20.6. This will require the implementation of centrally hosted ICT system within the LGMA to support the completion of stock condition surveys by all local authorities and the subsequent development of strategic and informed work programmes which will be supported by my Department’s stock improvement funding programmes. It is envisaged surveys will commence early in 2022.