Nationally, 2,307 vacant homes were brought back into active use in 2022, exceeding the target of 2,273.
134 vacant social homes in the midlands were brought back to use in 2022.
Over €1.4 million was recouped by local authorities in the region in the Voids Programme, which prepares vacant homes for re-letting.
60 unused homes were re-purposed for active use in Laois, the highest in the midlands, four less than in 2021.
That figure is 46 in Westmeath, two more than year prior.
28 vacant homes were brought back to active use in Offaly in 2022, a drop of three from 2021 - it's also the second lowest figure in the country.
Nationally, 2,307 homes were brought back to active use in 2022, exceeding the expected figure of 2,273.
That's a drop of over 100, compared to the year prior.
The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, says:
"Apart from the obvious advantages of meeting demand for social housing, the return of these vacant social homes has a positive impact on communities. It helps avoids vacant homes becoming run down and derelict in some instances and the source of anti-social behaviour.
Local authorities seized the opportunity to bring these homes back into active use in 2022 and this will make a real difference to the lives of over 2,300 households.
It’s important to note and welcome the fact that nationally the number of vacant social homes requiring pre-letting works was lower in 2022 than in 2021 or 2020.
This clearly shows that our plan is working.
In 2020 and 2021 we spent more than €88M bringing 6,032 vacant social homes back into use, and evidently, we are reducing the number of voids in need of refurbishment works following those two intense years of tackling vacancy.
We are now progressively shifting to a position of planned maintenance of social housing stock to ensure minimal turnaround and re-let times for social housing stock."
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