Shame of ‘43 council homes lying vacant’ - Teachta Clarke

Government are failing to resource local authorities and are allowing public homes to lie empty in the middle of a housing emergency, according to Sorca Clarke of Sinn Féin, TD for Longford Westmeath.

She made the assertion as part of a statement in response to FOI data released to Sinn Féin showing the number of council homes boarded up across the state.

Teachta Clarke said: “Each of those homes should have a family living in it, children growing up in it – instead, these homes are empty and children are growing up in hotels. That is beyond scandalous.

“I am tired of the government’s excuses and broken promises. This is an issue in all local authorities because they do not provide enough funding to maintain homes or return them to use.

“Local authorities should be funded to do their jobs; instead, red-tape and bureaucracy coupled with underfunding leave homes empty for years.”

Teachta Clarke said about one in every 55 council homes in Westmeath is vacant. “I receive endless emails and phone calls from people desperately in need of housing, yet seven of those homes have been vacant for almost a year.

“These empty homes are a constant reminder of the failures of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

“If they cared about our communities, about children growing up in hotels, homes would not be empty for years on end. It is just not right that there are adults stuck living in their parents’ back bedrooms while the house next door is boarded up and empty, that there are young people boarding planes to start lives in Australia when they could be starting lives in these empty homes and that there are children walking home from school today past empty homes to the hotel room they share with their entire family.

“A Sinn Féin government would not stop until long-term vacancy in council homes had been ended.

“We would cut the red tape and end the bureaucracy. We would do everything to ensure that nobody watches homes rot while they cannot access secure accommodation.”

Response from council: ‘Turnaround time depends on condition of properties’

Westmeath County Council make every effort to address vacant units as they arise given the current demands on the housing sector. The turnaround time for vacant units can vary from a number of weeks to a number of months.

This is largely dependent on the condition of the property when it is returned to the council, the scale of works required and a tenant accepting an offer of accommodation.

The average time taken from the date of vacation of a dwelling to the date when it is re-tenanted in 2023 was 34.39 weeks. By applying the same criteria in 2024, this has reduced to 31.57 weeks. This information is reported on an annual basis in the Local Authority Performance Indicators (NOAC) Report. It should be noted that this is the average turnaround time. As detailed above, the timeframe can vary.

The council continues to engage with the department regarding funding. The funding for works relating to vacant units is partially funded by the department by way of an annual allocation. Any expenditure incurred above the department allocation is funded through local authority resources.