Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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323. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has a record of the number of vacant residential properties currently in the possession of banking institutions in Ireland; if there are plans to compel these institutions make these properties available for use or to put them on the market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16289/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The €70 million revolving Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAA fund) was established with effect from the 1 January 2017 with the objective of acquiring vacant property portfolios from banks and financial institutions that could then be used for social housing. The target for the HAA fund was to acquire 1,600 units over a four year period to 2020 with this target subsequently extended out to 2021.

This fund has enabled the Housing Agency to actively engage with banks and investment companies in relation to the acquisitions of properties. Through the provision of direct access to capital funding for the Housing Agency, the aim was to simplify the current acquisition process for vacant portfolio purchases; speed up the acquisition process and to encourage investors to make additional supply available. The HAA fund is replenished by the Housing Agency through the sale of units primarily to the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector and the funds received are recycled back into the fund for future acquisitions.

This was intended to be a short term to medium term initiative, targeting the vacant property portfolios of financial institutions and investment companies, in direct response to the social housing shortage that would be designed to complement, not displace, ongoing targeted acquisition activity by local authorities and AHBs.

As at Q3 2021, 888 units were delivered under the Housing Agency Acquisitions fund programme and an additional 562 properties were acquired by the Housing Agency Acquisitions team on behalf of local authorities. The number of homes acquired though the HAA fund and made available to AHBs under Caretaker Lease are included in my Department's overall quarterly reporting which is available at the following link:

www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.

The Department does not have a record of the number of vacant residential properties currently in the possession of banking institutions in Ireland. The Housing Agency continues to engage with financial institutions and it is clear that the supply of properties that the fund was established to acquire has substantially declined. Under Housing For All, a review of the Housing Agency Acquisitions fund is under way and will be completed shortly.

There are also a range of measures in Pathway 4 of Housing for All which are designed to address vacancy. One of these measures is a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) Programme for vacant properties. This aims to support local authorities in using CPO procedures to acquire vacant properties that will then be sold on the open market. 2,500 properties is the target under this initiative and this will be in addition to properties local authorities might purchase under a CPO for social housing use. The initiative would apply to any suitable vacant property so although it is not specifically targeted at bank controlled properties, it may encompass vacant properties controlled by the banks.