Limerick council meets target to refurbish and re-let housing 'voids'

NEARLY 120 social homes were refurbished and re-let by Limerick City and County Council during 2020, it has been revealed.

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, has greatly welcomed the fact that last year's Voids Stimulus Programme exceeded targets in Limerick and across the country.

The minister has specifically thanked Limerick City and County Council for its work in refurbishing and re-letting 117 homes during 2020.

"The shutdown in construction activity in the first half of last year has had a big impact on our delivery of new build social housing. The Government decided as part of the July Stimulus to make up for lost ground by allocating €40m for the refurbishment of social housing stock which was otherwise vacant.  I asked local authorities to ensure that all homes were refurbished and at the very least allocated by the end of the year. Limerick City and County Council responded with great enthusiasm and their speedy uptake in the scheme is to be highly commended," he said.

Overall in 2020, €56.4m was spent to bring thousands of vacant homes back into productive use within the social housing stock. This represents the highest ever yearly spend and the highest number of homes to be refurbished under the voids programme.

“Over the course of the year 3,607 vacant social homes have been brought back into use, 2,565 of those in just six months. They have been refurbished and allocated to those on the social housing list and those experiencing homelessness. There was also an added economic benefit with further employment generated for local Limerick builders, carpenters, painters, plumbers, electricians and so on,” said Minister O'Brien.