COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 12, 2018

QUESTION NO.24

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive to detail further action he is taking in respect of the Rebuilding Ireland Programme announced by government and in reporting will he also confirm what action he has taken in respect of the announcement by the Minister for Housing Planning and local Government that Local Authorities should have a Vacant Homes Officer in place and will he make a statement in the matter.

REPLY:

The Council has 9 active construction sites with a further construction site due to commence soon. These sites will deliver 350 social housing units, the majority of which will be delivered in 2018. Further housing sites were recently presented to the four Area Committees and we hope to progress these in the next few months. The experience of rapid build delivery method has been very positive as once construction on site commences, the process for delivery is quicker. We continue to collaborate with the AHB sector in providing social housing units under the various funding mechanisms. We are actively working with developers to try to bring housing to the market for further purchase and/or leasing. We continue to have discussions with landlords to provide units under the recently launched Enhanced Leasing Initiative. There has been significant interest in the Rebuild Ireland Home which was launched on the 1st February 2018. This will allow first time buyers to borrow up to 90% of the market value of the property to a maximum purchase price of €320,000 within South Dublin County Council.

Extensive work has taken place under South Dublin County Councils Vacant Home Strategy and all vacant properties have now been identified.  The number of vacant units that we are now pursuing is less than 30.Work is currently underway to advise the home owners of these vacant properties options that they may avail of.A Vacant Homes Officer has been designated for this work and implementation of the strategy.

South Dublin County Council are continuing to monitor the Vacant Homes website for properties that are reported and would ask that all vacant properties be reported via http://vacanthome.ie.