Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD has criticised the government for failing to deliver on its vacant home’s strategy.
According to information received in response to a parliamentary question, only 1,462 homes have been delivered to date via three government schemes; Repair and Lease, Buy and Renew, and the Housing Agency Fund. The government’s target across all three schemes was 5,600.
Responding to the figures, Deputy Ó Broin said:
“The information I received in response to a parliamentary question indicates that, since the three vacant homes schemes were introduced, only 1,462 homes have been brought into use out of a target of 5,600.
“Only 165 homes had been brought back into use under the Repair and Lease scheme by the end of 2019, which is dismal considering Minister Coveney set a target to deliver 3,500 homes by 2021.
“550 new social homes have been delivered via Buy and Renew up to the end of 2019. Only 747 homes have been purchased out of the €70m rolling Housing Agency fund, despite 1,600 homes targeted for delivery by 2020 in Rebuilding Ireland and 1,800 homes being offered.
“This is a pathetic rate of return given the census identified 189,000 vacant homes across the country in 2016 and the Geo Directories confirmed 90,000 of this figure.
“The Repair and Leasing scheme has been a failure. Despite the 3,500-target set by Minister Coveney, three and a half years in and despite tweaks to the scheme in 2018, the government has only reached 4.7% of its target.
“The Housing Agency €70m rolling fund has only acquired 747 homes as of the end of 2019. It is disappointing that despite 1,800 homes being offered and a target of 1,600 properties to be delivered by 2020, purchases have only been completed on 445 of these homes by Approved Housing Bodies.
“It is clear that the government never put its full weight in terms of funding or support towards these schemes. Greater flexibility should have been demonstrated and more support should have been given to smaller, more rural local authorities.
“If Sinn Féin forms part of the next government we would insist on an immediate, time-limited review of these schemes with a view to setting ambitious targets for the return of vacant homes back into use.”
ENDS//
Note to editor: PQs below
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For Written Answer on : 20/05/2020
Question Number(s): 1330 Question Reference(s): 5847/20
Department: Housing, Planning and Local Government
Asked by: Eoin Ó Broin T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government the number of social houses acquired under the Housing Agency vacant housing fund in each year since the fund was introduced; and the average cost of these acquisitions in each year since the scheme has been in operation.
REPLY
Under Rebuilding Ireland, direct capital funding is provided to the Housing Agency to facilitate the acquisition of suitable portfolios of properties for social housing from financial institutions and investors.
An acquisitions fund of €70 million, which is a revolving fund, was established with effect from 1 January 2017 with the objective of acquiring some 1,600 units over the period to 2021 for social housing use. This has enabled the Housing Agency to actively engage with banks and investment companies in relation to the acquisition of properties. The fund is replenished by the 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. AHBs utilise private finance as well as Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) and Payment and Availability (P&A) funding available from my Department to fund these units.
Property acquisition and subsequent sale to AHBs is a process that can take some time, therefore, in order to maximise the potential for use of properties acquired by the Agency in the intervening period, an innovative Caretaker Lease arrangement has been developed. This allows the Agency to assign a property to an AHB who can carry out any necessary repairs and liaise with the Local Authority to tenant the unit, in parallel with the onward acquisition of the unit.
Up to end Q4 2019, a total of 747 properties had been purchased by the Agency using the Fund and placed on caretaker leases with AHBs or sold to local authorities. The onward sale of 445 of these homes to AHBs has been completed in full. In addition, in excess of 120 properties are in the process of proceeding to purchase close, being placed on caretaker leases, or transferred to Local Authorities. Overall, this activity represents close to 50% of the original target of the Fund which is intended to be achieved over the six year period of Rebuilding Ireland.
New homes acquired through the 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:
The year by year breakdown specifically relating to the Fund and included in the overall reporting for Rebuilding Ireland is set out in the Table below.
YearNo. of unitsAverage Cost 2017 36€198,792 2018 481€188,656 2019 230€178,669
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For Written Answer on : 20/05/2020
Question Number(s): 1331 Question Reference(s): 5848/20
Department: Housing, Planning and Local Government
Asked by: Eoin Ó Broin T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government the number of social houses acquired under the repair and leasing scheme in each year since it was introduced; and the average cost of the leases in each year since the scheme has been in operation.
REPLY
The Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) was developed to assist private property owners and local authorities or approved housing bodies (AHBs) to harness the accommodation potential that exists in certain vacant dwellings across Ireland. RLS has both capital and current funding streams. The capital element funds the repairs to the property; the current element funds the lease payment to the property owner with the cost of the repairs being recovered from the property owner by offsetting it against the lease payment.
At the end of 2019, a total of 165 dwellings had been delivered through RLS. Total output under the scheme by year, together with the average annual lease cost, is set out in the table below.
Table: RLS Delivery and Average Annual Cost 2017 to 2019
Year Dwellings Delivered Average Annual Cost2017 9€7,919 2018 80€6,0232019 76€5,666Total 165€5,970
For Written Answer on : 20/05/2020
Question Number(s): 1332 Question Reference(s): 5849/20
Department: Housing, Planning and Local Government
Asked by: Eoin Ó Broin T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Housing; Planning and Local Government the number of social houses acquired under the buy and renew scheme in each year since the fund was introduced; and the average cost of these acquisitions in each year since the scheme has been in operation.
REPLY
Under my Department’s Social Housing Investment Programme, funding is available to all local authorities to deliver additional social housing stock through the acquisition of new and previously owned houses/apartments for social housing use, including delivery through the Buy and Renew Scheme.
Activity in this regard is largely delegated to local authorities so they can respond flexibly to all opportunities to provide new social housing. Since the Buy & Renew Scheme was introduced in late 2016, local authorities have delivered over 550 new social homes under the scheme to the end of 2019, as follows –
YearUnitsAverage Delivery Cost per Unit2016/7176€174,0002018223€210,0002019160€191,000
