Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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656. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has instructed local authorities to include targets for tackling vacancy in their forthcoming development plans. [20377/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Housing for All (published in September 2021) provides a new housing plan for Ireland to 2030 with the overall objective that every citizen in the State should have access to good quality homes through a steady supply of housing in the right locations, with economic, social and environmental sustainability built into the system. The strategy sets out, over four pathways, a broad suite of measures to achieve its policy objectives together with a financial commitment of in excess of €4 billion per annum.

The suite of measures and relevant targets under the pathway to addressing vacancy and efficient use of existing stock includes:

- 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.

- The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Initiative will be delivered by local authorities for the provision of some 2,000 serviced sites for homes by 2025, 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.

While it is a matter for local authorities to decide independently on specific targets in the first instance within the context of these overall targets, as these measures are advanced I will keep under consideration specific local authority targets having regard to future delivery of the overall national targets.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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657. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason that there are no targets for tackling vacancy in the Town Centres First policy. [20378/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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‘Town Centre First – A Policy Approach for Irish Towns’ is the Government’s overarching strategy for the renewal and regeneration of Irish Towns. The creation of this Town Centre First (TCF) policy is an objective of the Programme for Government and it was published on 4th February 2022. The policy was jointly developed by my Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development and it supports established national policy objectives in the National Planning Framework, Housing for All and Our Rural Future. Town Centre First sets out 33 specific actions which provide a co-ordinated framework to address the decline in the health of our towns and sets out actions to regenerate and revitalise them. All these actions have either implicit targets related to delivering better outputs and outcomes for the development of town centres or explicit output unit targets where relevant.

Addressing vacancy and maximising the use of existing housing stock is a primary objective of the Government and there are number of measures provided for in the Town Centre First policy which support commitments in the Housing for All strategy to address vacancy and dereliction. In particular, the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund under Action 26 will be delivered by local authorities for the provision of both serviced sites for housing, to attract people to build their own homes and also to support the refurbishment of vacant and derelict properties, enabling people to live in small towns and villages, in a sustainable way. The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund aims to facilitate the making available of some 2,000 sites for homes by 2025 and a pathfinder programme is currently under consideration and it is expected that a call for proposals will issue to the local authorities shortly.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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658. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of staff members that are employed full-time equivalent in the vacant homes unit in his Department and if he will update on their work [20379/22]

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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659. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is establishing a compulsory purchase order unit in his Department. [20380/22]

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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660. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the establishment of a dereliction team in his Department; the number of staff members that are currently employed full-time focusing on dereliction; the number he plans to employ; and the timeline for delivery of this. [20381/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 658, 659 and 660 together.

Housing for All (published in September 2021) provides a new housing plan for Ireland to 2030 with the overall objective that every citizen in the State should have access to good quality homes through a steady supply of housing in the right locations, with economic, social and environmental sustainability built into the system. The strategy sets out, over four pathways, a broad suite of measures to achieve its policy objectives together with a financial commitment of in excess of €4 billion per annum.

Work underway by my Department, across the Planning and Housing Divisions, on a suite of measures under the pathway to addressing vacancy and efficient use of existing stock including:

- A new Town Centre First policy, which includes approaches to utilising existing stock and new financial incentive mechanisms.

- 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.

- Funding support for the work of the Vacant Homes Office in local authorities including a vacant homes officer to ensure that vacant homes officers are full-time officers.

- 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.

The provision of central funding for the Vacant Homes Office in local authorities reinforces their capacity at the local level, including through the important role of vacant homes officers, to ensure a dedicated focus on tackling vacancy and dereliction with a view to increasing the opportunities for residential development.

The detailed arrangements for the CPO programme are currently being developed, with the aim of advancing it this year, and it will build on the experience of many Local Authorities that already utilise CPO acquisitions in their delivery of new social homes through the Buy and Renew scheme. Significantly, a central advisory service is being established in The Housing Agency to assist Local Authorities with the process. This advisory support, will be in addition to the Vacant Homes unit being established within my Department, with an Assistant Principal Officer already appointed and recruitment of a dedicated Principal Officer underway, to co-ordinate the range of measures under the Housing for All pathway to addressing vacancy and efficient use of existing stock.