Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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152. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the funding provided for compulsory purchase orders of properties and the number of properties compulsorily purchased in each of the past five years, by local authority, in tabular form. [30451/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Addressing vacancy is a key priority for this government.

The Vacant Homes Action Plan, which I originally published in January 2023, built on Pathway 4 of Housing for All and set out the various actions that were being pursued to return vacant properties back into use as homes. I recently published an update on the Action Plan a year on which shows the significant progress that is being made and it is available here on my Department's website: .

Under the Action Plan, a new CPO Activation Programme was launched by my Department in April 2023. The Programme supports a proactive and systematic approach by local authorities to the activation of vacant properties. It also includes guidance for local authorities to actively use their legislative powers to acquire vacant and derelict properties, where engagement with owners has been unsuccessful. Support and guidance on implementation of the Programme is being provided to local authorities by the Vacant Homes Unit in my Department and by the Property Optimisation Unit in the Housing Agency.

Under the Programme each local authority is to collate data in relation to these properties, activity undertaken by them and outcomes, including the scheme or measure used where the property was brought back into use.

Also under the Action Plan, I announced a €150 million Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) for local authorities to acquire vacant or derelict properties for reuse or sale, using their compulsory purchase powers were necessary. The Fund will be replenished from the proceeds received from the sale or reuse of a site, allowing a local authority to establish a rolling programme to tackle vacancy. More than 1,200 vacant and derelict properties have now been identified and approved under the scheme and the estimated residential yield from these properties is 5,406 homes.

In addition to URDF funding, the Social Housing Capital Funding Programmes (Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) and the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS)) support local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to tackle vacancy and dereliction through the purchase and renewal of vacant buildings and blocks as new social homes. The funding for local authorities to purchase, including compulsory purchase and renew vacant buildings as new social homes is drawn from the €1.4 billion capital funding available under the Social Housing Capital Funding Programmes and is demand-led.

The Housing Finance Agency can also provide funding for local authorities for the compulsory purchase or acquisition of vacant and derelict properties.

There is, therefore, significant available funding that local authorities can draw on in relation to the compulsory purchase or acquisition of vacant and derelict properties, in order to bring them back into use.

My Department does not have data compiled on the total number of properties compulsorily purchased by local authority in each of the past 5 years.

The most efficient home to deliver is one which already exists. I firmly believe that the commitment this Government has made to addressing vacancy and dereliction will continue to play a vital role in delivering homes and revitalising local communities.