Vacant housing officers
Deputy Stanton asks whether vacant housing officers should be full-time and more numerous in large counties. The Taoiseach says housing management across councils must be focused on voids and that substantial funding has already brought many homes back into use.
We are giving €1.5 million to all the local authorities every year to employ vacant housing officers, most of whom are part-time. In fact the vacant housing position is an add-on and these are not full-time dedicated staff members. Does the Taoiseach think they should be full-time dedicated staff members and what mechanism will the Government put in place to ensure that this happens? Would he also agree that large counties like Cork should have more than one vacant housing officer? Does he agree it is a very important role and there is huge potential to bring on further housing stock if this is done properly, like they have done in Waterford?
Comment on this
My view is that the entire senior management should be concerned about voids and vacant housing. Is that the issue? Fine, but it is much more than just having a vacant housing officer. The entire corporation and local council should be seized with the need to get houses back into service as quickly as they are vacated. That is why we provided substantial funding in the July stimulus. We have brought 6,000 houses back into play that were void in the 18 months since we have been in office. These are the facts and I am very impatient with any houses that are left idle given the housing crisis that we have. The county manager, and not just the vacant housing officer - I know they are - should be seized by any vacancies to ensure that their systems are such that we do not tolerate that, that there is a complete intolerance of having houses idle when people need them.