COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 13, 2015

QUESTION NO.1

QUESTION: Councillor P. Foley

There was recently an ad campaign run encouraging people to rent their properties to the council for social housing.

To ask the Chief Executive how much is the ad campaign costing – whether or not the cost is to be picked up by SDCC - and how successful was the ad campaign? What was the uptake compared with a similar period for the previous year?

REPLY:

There was recently an ad campaign run encouraging people to rent their properties to the council for social housing.

To ask the Chief Executive how much is the ad campaign costing – whether or not the cost is to be picked up by SDCC - and how successful was the ad campaign? What was the uptake compared with a similar period for the previous year?

REPLY

A media campaign for the Dublin Region to attract private landlords to lease their properties to Local Authorities ran from Monday 25th May 2015 to Friday 19th June 2015 and Councillors were notified of the campaign by email dated 22nd May 2015.

The purpose of the campaign was to attract landlords to participate in RAS/Leasing with the clear message that by leasing properties to local authorities in the Dublin Region, it takes the uncertainty out of being a landlord.

In order to promote the campaign, advertisements were placed in the national newspapers and on national radio stations. In addition information regarding the campaign was placed on the Council website and on twitter. 

A " meet and greet" event was also organised in Dublin City Council offices in Wood Quay  where landlords were invited to meet representatives of the 4 Dublin Authorities to discuss the various rental and leasing schemes.  Further, a presentation in relation to the campaign was made to a meetin of the I.P.O.A. ( Irish Property Owners Association ) in respect of which approx. 180 landlords attended.

The campaign is being funded by the Department of Environment, Community & Local Government. The overall cost of the campaign has not yet been finalised. 

Following on the campaign, SDCC received approx. l50 expressions of interest from prospective landlords; contact is being actively pursued with these landlords by staff on the Council's RAS/Leasing Team.  However, the Council is not currently in a position to confirm the numbers of landlords who finally sign up to the scheme.

A further report in this regard will be presented .