Over 3pc of all homes owned by city and county councils around Ireland were vacant at the end of last year, according to a new report by the local authority watchdog.
Figures published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission show that 4,448 local authority dwellings were unoccupied last December out of a total housing stock of 141,483 owned by councils – a vacancy rate of 3.2pc which was effectively unchanged from the previous year.
The annual review by NOAC of the performance of the country’s 31 local authorities showed the number of homeless adults living in emergency accommodation rose by over 9pc over the same period.
The NOAC also disclosed that, starting in 2018, the average length of time it took to re-let council properties increased significantly until it reached an average of nearly eight months in 2021.
According to the survey, Longford and Galway County had council home vacancy rates that were more than 7 percent, more than double the national average.
Over 850 council dwellings in Cork City and County were vacant, and the vacancy rates in Cork County (5.3%), Cavan (4.7%), and Cork City (4.4%) were all above average.
The most severe housing problem in the nation is in Dublin, where the vacancy rate ranged from 1 percent in SouThere were about 1,000 council-owned residences without a tenant in place across the four local authority regions in Dublin City and County, including nearly 700 homes in the territory under Dublin City Council's administration.
Additionally, there were about 220 vacant municipal homes in Limerick, whereas just about 200 unoccupied dwellings could be found in Wexford, Wicklow, and Galway County.
Only 0.8 percent of the homes in Monaghan County Council was vacant in December, which was the lowest vacancy rate in the Republic.th Dublin to 2.8 percent in the Dublin City Council's administrative region.
While acknowledging that rental properties controlled by councils experience some turnover, NOAC emphasised that "local authorities should make every effort to ensure the stock is utilised to the fullest extent practicable to satisfy the demand and needs of applicants on the housing waiting list."
According to the most recent data, there were a net 2,600 homes added to the stock of council housing last year, including 392 in Dublin City (+1.6%), 387 in Cork County (+5.3%), and 154 in Kildare (+3.2%).
In 2021, local governments built or bought 3,045 more dwellings, but 367 of those were sold and 79 were destroyed.
The peak of 5,619 new council-owned homes in 2019 marked the lowest yearly net rise in recent years, while the decline is linked to a decline in construction activity brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
