A Dublin City Councillor says he “absolutely disputes” figures suggesting it takes two years to turn around vacant social housing units in the city.
The Irish Examiner reports that a new Government audit report has found that there were just under 5,000 vacant social housing units around the country at the onset of the pandemic.
The paper said the Local Government Audit report found the average turnaround time for getting properties re-occupied was 46 weeks; however, the turnaround time in Dublin was two years.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Dublin City Councillor Nial Ring said the figures are “simply wrong.”
“I absolutely dispute the figure,” he said.
“If it was taking DCC two years to turn around a void, I can guarantee you that myself and my fellow councillors - 62 others - would be up in arms. The people of Dublin would be up in arms and the people on the housing list would be up in arms.
“The figure is simply wrong.”
Social housing
He said latest figures suggest it takes an average of 18 weeks to bring vacant social homes back into circulation in Dublin.
“We have 25,000 units in Dublin city and usually, at the moment, around 400 or 1.6% would be vacant,” he said.
“They are called voids and they are waiting to come back into stock.
“No matter what way I am working these figures … when I saw the article this morning, I just found it extraordinary. I would love to delve deeper into that article.”
Voids
He said the current figure of 18 weeks is down from the 28 weeks it was taking around ten years ago.
According to the Irish Examiner, the average turnaround time for vacant social homes in Cork city is 63 weeks, while it is 53 in Cork county.
It said Sligo is facing the longest turnaround times at 139 weeks.
You can listen back to Cllr Ring here:
