Vacant properties can help solve the housing crisis says Deputy Penrose

Some of the “hundreds of millions” of taxpayers’ money being spent on rent supplement should be used to make vacant houses habitable for people on council waiting lists, Deputy Willie Penrose says.

Speaking in the Dáil last Wednesday during a discussion on Labour’s proposal that a new Irish Housing Development Bank should be established to fund the construction of 80,000 social housing units over the next five years, Deputy Penrose said that the role of the state in leading the delivery of housing “seems lost on this current government”.

To solve the housing problem, Deputy Penrose says that “we need to think outside the box” and we should be “increasing supply in every way possible”, including bringing some of the more than 4,000 vacant dwellings in Westmeath back into use.

“There are currently 1,701 people on the housing list in Westmeath. In addition, there are 800 who have HAP tenancies,” said Deputy Penrose.

“In my own constituency, I keep passing three houses that have been unoccupied and in poor condition for years. Every deputy in this chamber knows about similar houses in their own areas.

“We could do more to bring privately-owned vacant housing back into use.

“Hundreds of millions is being spent on Rent Supplement and HAP, and some of this money could be diverted into making vacant houses habitable. The houses I’m talking about could be made habitable for maybe €30-40,000 each. They could provide great homes for people.

“Could we not offer a grant or scheme where we’d supply the funding if the owners commit to renting out the properties for social housing for a period of years?

“We could get better value this way than leasing properties under the HAP scheme, and we’d be stopping houses going into dereliction in cases where their owners can’t afford to do much with them,” the Ballynacargy TD said.