KENNY WELCOMES €15M FUND TO GET VACANT LOCAL AUTHORITY HOUSING INTO SHAPE

Posted on March 10, 2014 1:45 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Dublin Bay North Labour TD Sean Kenny has welcomed the launch of a €15m fund that will see vacant local authority housing redeveloped and brought back into use as social housing.

"Local authorities must submit their proposals for the funding by the 28th March. Minister Jan O'Sullivan, who has worked hard to alleviate the shortage of social housing, will then allocate the funding as soon as possible afterwards. The fund should see about 500 housing units that are now vacant, brought into use for families later this year."

"I want to pay tribute to Minister O'Sullivan for the continued hard work that she is doing in the area of social housing. She is the first Minister in several years to actively look at ways of increasing funding and increasing the supply of local authority housing, in what is a serious housing crisis in Ireland. Increasing the supply of social housing is a priority."

"In terms of this funding of €15m, I am very happy to see it. Given the demand for social housing, my view is that no home can be left empty. If it needs to be refurbished before another family occupy it, then that refurbishment should be done, and that is what this fund is intended to do. An added benefit of the fund is that it will also create jobs in the building and green energy sectors in local communities. Local authorities that access the fund will be encouraged to use the services of community based organisations who recruit and train long-term unemployed people for some of the required works."