Government accused of ignoring proposals to tackle 90,000 vacant homes

The Department of Housing has been criticised for failing to consider proposals, such as the monitoring of electricity and water usage, to locate the estimated 90,000 vacant properties in the country.

The Department of Housing has been criticised for failing to consider proposals aimed at tackling the 90,000 vacant homes across the country.

Four groups — the Housing Agency, Collaborative Town Centre Health Check (CTCHC), VacantHomes.ie and SpaceEngagers — met with officials from the Department of Housing in 2018 to discuss ways to tackle high vacancy rates

Among the measures proposed by the groups was the monitoring of electricity and water usage to locate vacant properties and then imposing sanctions on property owners who left them idle.

Other parts of Europe are now taking this approach but the proposal has been ignored in Ireland.

The government in Wallonia, a French-speaking region in Belgium, is the latest to announce that it will use water and electricity consumption, or the lack thereof, to detect vacant properties.

Owners of such properties in Wallonia will be fined if they fail to bring them back into use.

The government in Wallonia, Belgium, is the latest to announce that it will use water and electricity consumption, or the lack thereof, to detect vacant properties.

The CTCHC and other Irish groups highlighted their frustration at the fact that other governments are implementing such proposals while departments here in Ireland seem reluctant to take proposals on board.

Alison Harvey, the founder of the CTCHC Project, said: 

“We went with this proposal four years ago and we didn’t really get any hearing. We need innovative and agile systems. It’s time for a new way of collaborative working.”

It comes at a time of increasing house prices and calls for the government and local authorities to address both dereliction and vacancy as a matter of urgency.

The four groups stated that, had these proposals been taken on board, it may have helped address the current high rates of vacancy across Ireland.

Data

In a submission to the Government, they highlighted the importance of collecting data on the number of vacant properties across Ireland, to ensure that vacant properties can be brought into use to help address a growing housing crisis.

A spokesperson for the Department of Housing said “addressing vacancy, by making the best use of our existing stock, is crucial in light of the current housing crisis”.

“Housing for All, the new housing plan for Ireland to 2030, sets out, in one of the four pathways, how the Government is prioritising the area of vacancy and efficient use of existing stock.

“The Government is pursuing a wide range of measures to ensure existing stock is utilised and to unlock the potential for the reactivation of vacant and derelict properties, which will breathe new life into towns and villages, boosting schools, the local economy and local communities,” the spokesperson added.

These measures include reforming the Fair Deal scheme to remove disincentives for the sale and rental of vacant properties.

Local authorities will be funded to complete the compulsory purchase orders of up to 2,500 vacant properties by 2026.