People Before Profit representatives Gino Kenny TD and Cllr Madeleine Johansson are calling on vacant homes to be opened up as a matter of urgency. One of the properties they have highlighted is located in North Clondalkin and has been vacant for about 2 years. The home is owned by the company Xerico Ltd which in turn is owned by a fund based in Luxembourg. The fund called LRC RE-1, together with its subsidiaries, owns at least another 689 homes in Dublin alone. The People Before Profit representatives will be working with local residents to demand that this property is returned to use as soon as possible, or that it be Compulsory Purchased by South Dublin County Council.
Gino Kenny TD commented: “It’s absolutely outrageous that we have vacant homes in the middle of the worst housing crisis in the history of the state. There is no reason to leave a home empty for a long period of time. These faceless vulture funds have bought up large numbers of houses in Dublin and are now leaving some of them empty.”
Cllr Madeleine Johansson added: “As a tenant facing eviction it makes me furious to see these vacant homes. There are very few properties available to rent at the moment in Dublin while there’s thousands of people homeless. There are also thousands of tenants with eviction notices who will have nowhere to go after the government ends the eviction ban at the end of March. Every single vacant home must be brought back into use immediately or compulsory purchased by local authorities for social housing.”
