Allocation of funding and targets for 2017 which will see a minimum of 30 void and vacant social housing units returned to productive use at a cost of €624,000 in Galway County.

Minister for OPW & Flood Relief Seán Canney, T.D., has today welcomed the allocation of funding of over €24 million for the return of over 1,400 vacant local authority properties to productive use this year.
The allocation for Galway County is €642,000 to restore 30 homes to productive use.
The move is a continuation of the Government’s commitment under the Social Housing Strategy to deliver 47,000 housing units by 2021 at a cost of €5.35 billion.
Minister Canney said “Under the Government’s Social Housing Strategy 2020, and reaffirmed under Pillar 2 of Rebuilding Ireland my Department is committed to supporting local authorities in carrying out work that both improves the national housing stock and ensures that existing social housing stock is used efficiently. This announcement today will bring another 30 housing units back into use in a timely manner for homeless households and families on housing waiting lists in County Galway.
Feedback from local authorities in respect of this programme is very positive. Since the introduction of the programme in 2014 valuable assistance has been provided to local authorities in dealing with vacant units and significant progress has been made in tackling the backlog. These measures will also greatly assist local authorities in achieving quick turnaround and re-letting times for such units.
Going forward funding will be linked to local authorities putting in place ongoing maintenance programmes to address the issue of vacant properties. These measures will mean that there will not be a high number of vacant units, and local authorities will be continued to be supported in the remediation of any such vacant units that do occur.
The Vacant Properties programme applies to both short and long term vacant units nationwide and is being allocated, as it was in 2014 and 2015, on an equitable and evidence-based system. The energy efficiency works on the Vacant Property Programme has secured ERDF funding as part of the EU Operational Programme 2014-2020 and will see EU co-financing of 50% of eligible public investment under these programmes.