Sinn Fein calls for vacant council houses to be made available within 12 weeks

Sinn Fein has called for local authorities to be given powers that would see council homes made available to move into within 12 weeks of becoming vacant.

New figures show that at least one in every four boarded up council home has been empty for longer than 12 months.

The figures released to Sinn Fein’s Thomas Gould show that 38% of those vacant longer than 12 months have been empty for more than two years.

There are currently more than 750 council homes across Ireland which have been boarded up for more than a year.

Mr Gould, the party’s spokesman on Urban Regeneration and Renewal, Planning, Public Realm and Local Government, said there are thousands of homes that have been boarded up for three to four years, with some homes lying empty for eight years.

Limerick, Wicklow, Tipperary and Louth have council homes boarded up for the longest time periods, while Donegal, Cork City and Limerick have the highest levels of vacant stock.

Mr Gould said the average re-letting times vary across the state.

“Why are local authorities boarding up houses? When a family moves out, (and) if that house is (in) a decent condition, let’s put a family straight in. Let’s not board it up. Let’s put people in there.

“Instead, it’s being boarded up, waiting for the Department of Housing to give money in 12 months’ time, and then taking another six months for procurement to do it up.

“We want to get every house returned within 12 weeks. We think 12 gives time for local authorities to repair the house and get them out again.

“Local authorities are only getting 11,000 euros for each unit to be turned around, when the average cost last year was 28,000.”

He added: “This is a scandal when we’re in the middle of the worst housing crisis in the history of the state, and what we are trying to do is bring forward solutions.

“This in itself won’t solve the housing crisis, but what it would do, is could release thousands of homes that would help to house people who are homeless, but also take people out of the rental market.

“So this will have a domino positive effect from homeless services to social housing to rent.

“(We) want local authorities, rather than waiting for the department to give sanctions, that local authorities would be able to work returning homes all year long, and not just waiting for once or twice a year for the government to give sanctions.”

He called for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to bring in a “proper procedure” to address long-term vacant homes.

Mr Gould said boarded-up houses have “devastating effects” on communities.

“Families are coming out every day and looking at them, they’re magnets for anti social-behaviour, the magnets for dumping,” he added.

“They just drag down the whole environment of really good communities, and it’s about time now the Government stepped up.

“We are bringing forward a solution. We hope the Government will take it on board, because we think it makes sense.”

In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of Housing said: “Minister (James) Browne is very clear that he does not want to see properties that should be homes left unoccupied, and the Department of Housing is working closely with county and city councils across the country to reactivate vacant properties.

“The Government has provided record funding to local authorities to deal with legacy vacancy.

“Since 2014, local authorities have received 360m euro to turn around vacant units, which has funded over 25,600 such properties.

“Last year 2,357 vacant social homes were brought back into active use under the Voids Programme which supports local authorities in preparing local homes for re-letting and builds on ongoing work to tackle vacancy and dereliction.”