COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 08, 2019

QUESTION NO. 2

QUESTION: Councillor Carly Bailey

To ask the Chief Executive to confirm if there is a staff member designated to role of vacant homes officer and to confirm how many hours per week is dedicated to the sole task of identifying ownership of vacant homes.

REPLY:

The Council’s dedicated Vacant Homes Officer acts as central advisory point for property owners in terms of providing advice, assistance and information on the many schemes which are available to bring vacant properties back to use. 

Under the National Vacant Housing Re-use Strategy, each local authority was required to identify the scale of vacant homes and develop plans to address vacancy within their administrative area, by categorising vacant homes by location, ownership and reason for vacancy and subsequently to identify those properties that have the potential to be refurbished and made available for use. There are currently 59 vacant units identified within the County with six homes acquired to date by the Council under the Derelict Sites Legislation and brought back into social housing stock.

Given the relatively low level of vacancy existing in South Dublin, a senior member of staff in the Housing Department is assigned the role of vacant homes officer along with other duties, fulfilling the necessary functions of the role on an ongoing basis as required.

There are several initiatives in place with the aim of encouraging and enabling privately owned vacant homes to be brought back into use whether to the social housing or private rented market these include:

The primary objective is to encourage property owners to engage with the Council and find solutions for the vacant home units without having to resort to an acquisition, process. However, the Council has a range of legislative powers available to deal with under-utilised and derelict properties including through Compulsory Purchase and Derelict Sites legislation where necessary.

Vacant properties can be reported via http://vacanthome.ie