Donegal County Council brings 78 vacant social houses back into use

Donegal County Council has brought 78 houses back into use under the Voids Programme. The move has seen the local authority recoup €858,000 from the Department of Housing department in 2022. 

The Voids Programme supports local authorities in preparing vacant homes for re-letting.

Across the country, 2,307 vacant social homes were brought back into active use last year. Making more efficient use of existing housing stock is a key action in the Government’s Housing for All plan. The Voids Programme builds on the ongoing work to tackle vacancy and dereliction and bring vacant properties into re-use for housing. 

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Minister Darragh O’Brien said:“Apart from the obvious advantages of meeting demand for social housing, the return of these 78 vacant homes in Donegal has a positive impact on communities and avoids vacant homes becoming run down and derelict in some instances and the source of anti-social behaviour. 

“Donegal County Council seized the opportunity to bring these homes back into active use in 2022 and this will make a real difference to the lives of 78 households. It’s important to note and welcome the fact that nationally the number of vacant social homes requiring pre-letting works was lower in 2022 than in 2021 or 2020. This clearly shows that our plan is working. In 2020 and 2021 we spent more than €88 million bringing 6,032 vacant social homes back into use, and evidently, we are reducing the number of voids in need of refurbishment works following those two intense years of tackling vacancy."

He said the Government is progressively shifting to a position of planned maintenance of social housing stock to ensure minimal turnaround and re-let times for social housing stock. 

Local authorities are continuing to transition from a response-based approach to a strategic and informed planned maintenance approach to social housing. This is based on stock condition surveys. The planned maintenance/voids programme in 2022 supported this.