Regional taskforces could help cities bring vacant homes back into use, says report

Vacancy 'a by-product of Ireland’s planning system and property market'

A vacant site on Sullivans's quay, home of the former tax office, with Nano Nagle place on Douglas St and St Nicholas's Church, Cove St, Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Regional vacancy taskforces to back up local authorities who feel “understaffed and under-resourced” could help cities such as Cork and Waterford to bring vacant homes back into use, a new report has recommended.

The new vacant homes tax could be ringfenced to fund “integrated regional units tasked with creating and implementing ambitious strategies for the wide-scale reactivation of vacant land and properties”, it also says.