Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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115. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of vacant social homes brought back into use in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10977/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 115, 144 and 150 together.

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 58 of the Housing Act 1966.

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.

An annualised breakdown by local authority of the funding provided and the number of properties remediated under the Voids programme for the years 2014 up to and including 2022 is available on my Department's website at the following link:

www.gov.ie/en/collection/0906a-other-local-authority-housing-scheme-statistics/#voids-programme

My Department will continue to support local authorities in their work in this area. Funding allocations under the 2023 Programme will be announced shortly. Notwithstanding the voids funding being provided by my Department, local authorities have a responsibility to provide adequate housing maintenance budgets for 2023 and this parallel work by local authorities is essential for the development of the planned maintenance approach, which is an objective of Housing for All.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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116. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide details of the new €150 million URDF vacancy fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11719/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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On 30 January, I announced details regarding a third round of funding under the URDF programme. Supporting key objectives of Housing for All, Town Centre First and the Vacant Homes Action Plan, this round of URDF support has been specifically designed to addresses long term vacancy and dereliction across URDF eligible cities and town.

A revolving fund of up to €150m of URDF support will be made available for local authorities to acquire long term vacant or derelict properties (residential and/or commercial) and if necessary carry out works required to de-risk or improve the properties to make them more attractive for re-use or sale. The intention is that the fund would be replenished from the proceeds received from the end use/user thereby allowing the local authority to put in place a rolling programme to tackle long term vacancy and dereliction without recourse to borrowing and the associated financial risk for local authorities.

My Department is currently engaging with the local authority sector on finalising individual allocations, project criteria and reporting arrangements, the details of which will be announced in due course. While the third round of funding is specifically tailored to help deliver specific objectives of Housing for All, Town Centre First and the Vacant Homes Action Plan, a fourth round of funding support will be made available later in 2023. This further Call for proposals will revert to the heretofore wider scope of URDF projects, such as improved public realm and community development projects, which reflect the complex investment proposals required to transform key areas of our cities and towns. It will also provide an opportunity for a number of the ‘pipeline’ projects which have or will emerge from master planning exercises carried out under Calls 1 and 2 to be considered for funding. Support for a number of key settlements that have not yet received the level of funding required to support the growth proposed for them in the National Planning Framework and the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies, will also be considered. My Department will engage further with the local government sector on the nature and timing of a future Call after the third round of funding support has been finalised.