Unsold affordable housing in local authority housing stock

______________________________________________
For Written Answer on : 01/02/2022
Question Number(s): 323 Question Reference(s): 4290/22
Department: Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Asked by: David Stanton T.D.
______________________________________________


QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 518 of 19 January 2022, the amount made available in respect of each local authority to bring the 319 unsold affordable housing units fully into use in each local authority’s housing stock; the number of these houses per local authority area; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

REPLY

In 2009 the Department issued guidance to local authorities on the use of unsold affordable properties (USAs) to provide social housing. Whilst the original intention was that these properties would be sold on as affordable homes once demand increased to a level that would stimulate a sale, following the financial crash, developments in the housing market resulted in significantly reduced demand for affordable housing and a build-up of unsold affordable housing units in a number of local authority areas.
 

A data collection exercise in 2020 identified over 2,000 USAs across 19 local authorities with outstanding loans to the Housing Finance Agency (HFA). These units are currently occupied by social housing tenants.
 

Following discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, €54,918,210 voted capital funding was used in December 2021 to bring 319 of these unsold affordable units fully into local authority stock by repaying the HFA debt on those units. Details of these units are as follows: