Over 1,600 applications to vacant property scheme

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the number of applications is ‘increasing all the time’. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Up to 1,600 applications have been received for the Croí Conaithe vacant property grant scheme, according to the Minister for Housing.

Minister Darragh O’Brien told a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage on Tuesday afternoon that there is a big interest in the grant scheme.

He said: “We have received over 1,600 applications so far and it is increasing all the time.” 

The scheme previously applied to homes built before 1993. However, it will now apply to all homes built before 2007.

Mr O’Brien told members of the committee that a vacancy unit has also been set up in his department for the first time.

He also said that all councils, bar one, now have a dedicated vacant housing officer in place.

After last year’s census, the CSO said there were nearly 167,000 vacant houses and apartments.

Of those, nearly 48,500 homes vacant in 2016 were still vacant in 2022, while 23,500 were vacant in 2011, 2016, and 2022.

Mr O’Brien told committee members: “Tackling vacancy and maximising our existing stock is one of the quickest and most carbon-efficient methods of adding to new supply.

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“In January of this year, we launched our new Vacant Homes Action Plan and details of the new €150m Urban Regeneration and Development Fund vacancy fund.

“The action plan includes the rollout of a data collection project across all local authorities to capture accurate vacancy data and further support for the full-time role of the vacant homes officer, which is now a full-time position in 30 of our 31 local authorities.” 

Mr O’Brien announced a number of measures earlier on Tuesday aimed at delivering more houses this year .

This included the temporary waiver of residential development levies to cut costs for developers.

He said the waiver of development levies could cut an average of €12,500 off the cost of constructing a home.

However, Independent senator Vincent Boyhan questioned during the committee meeting why the government did not consider giving the levy back to first time buyers to help them secure homes.

Mr O’Brien said that new challenges have emerged and existing issues worsened in the past year, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increased energy prices, rising interest rates and rising construction costs.

He added: “In the 12 months since February 2022, wholesale prices for construction products have increased 14.7%.” 

During the committee meeting, Sinn Féin’s Cork North Central TD Thomas Gould called for the reinstatement of the eviction ban at the meeting, telling Mr O’Brien that he knew of one case where a woman who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has to leave her home on Thursday, after being given an extension of a number of weeks. 

He also said he knows of other seriously ill people who have to leave their rented accommodation, including one family with a child who is autistic.

However, Mr O’Brien said that extending the ban would have “made a very difficult situation in the private rental sector even worse.” 

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said he had received communication from a family on Tuesday afternoon who had been informed that the bailiffs would be arriving at their rented home next Tuesday. He said the family included two children, and their mother would have to leave her job if they end up living in hostel accommodation.