Rose Conway-Walsh urges upfront fund to clear vacant council homes
Rose Conway-Walsh spoke about long-term vacant local authority houses in Mayo and urged an upfront fund to Mayo County Council so vacant properties can be turned around without repeated central applications. She criticised bureaucratic delays and said homeless people are left watching council homes sit empty while need goes unmet.
Call for upfront funding
She asked the government to consider issuing an upfront fund to local authorities, with Mayo County Council singled out so they can repair and reoccupy void properties quickly rather than applying for funding on a house-by-house, unit-by-unit basis.
Personal testimony from a constituent
She relayed the case of a young mother in her constituency who is homeless, staying in a friend's house after giving birth at 36 weeks. The constituent experienced stress, anxiety, pregnancy complications including diabetes, and a hospital transfer to Dublin - distress the speaker directly links to the homeless situation.
Criticism of local authority handling of voids
She described houses left empty for months with shutters down despite being in good condition and said voids should be reoccupied within a month unless there are major structural issues. She said some councils show inertia and that many houses are allowed to idle for three or four months when quick repairs would allow occupancy.
Concerns about accountability and past funding
She argued for departmental control and a framework to prevent misuse, noting recent discoveries that councils purchased houses then spent large sums - "80 grand or 100 grand" - on them. She also questioned an upfront grant model on the grounds that giving money in advance is not a guarantee it will be spent on voids, and she pointed out that large sums have already been given to local authorities on voids over the last five years.
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I'm asking you to consider issuing an upfront fund to local authorities, but to Mayo County Council in particular, so that they can turn around the vacant properties they have without having to go through the bureaucratic nightmares of applying for funding from central government on a house-by-house, unit-by-unit basis. Can you imagine what it's like to be a homeless person in Mayo, watching council houses remain empty month after month while nothing is done? And I just want to give you an example from a young mother in my constituency. I'm homeless living in a friend's house. I've just had my first baby. She's now a month old. She was born at 36 weeks. I've been in and out of hospital the whole of the pregnancy with stress and anxiety. I developed diabetes also. I was rushed to Dublin Hospital for a week from bleeding and pains. I had a terrible experience. A lot of distress has been bought on because of my homeless situation, and that is the case for many, many people. I'm with Conway Walsh. There's no reason why voids should be so long. There has to be some framework of control by the department, because we discovered recently in the ten in situ, there were houses being bought. There were people who were living in them. They're bought by the council and suddenly there's 80 grand or 100 grand going into the house. The original, you know, the original objective of that was to stop people from going to homelessness. When a house is vacant, a local authority house is vacant, in my view it should be, unless there's something majorly wrong structurally, it should be occupied within the month. We've given huge money to local authorities on voids for the last five years. They should get on with it. They let the houses idle too long. Just too long. It's inexcusable in my view. In some councils there's just inertia. I've seen it myself. Some very good houses. People leave for one reason or another and shutters go up and they're left there for three or four months. They should be reoccupied nearly once the electrics are grand and everything. If we have to get around to repairing them, at least give some of the house. That's my own view on that. I get impatient about it from time to time, to be honest. But I hear what you're saying. But you give an upfront grant, you're not guaranteed it'll be spent on voids. That's the problem.
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