John Curran T.D. has highlighted the fact that not one home has been delivered and tenanted in Dublin through the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) that was rolled out in February 2017. Speaking after receiving a Parliamentary Question on the issue recently, Deputy Curran said; “The RLS is yet another failed attempt by the Government to deliver the level of new social housing homes it had promised much like many of the schemes under the Rebuilding Ireland programme.
“The Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) was developed to assist private property owners and local authorities or Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) to harness the accommodation potential that exists in certain vacant dwellings across Ireland. “The RLS has not delivered the level of new social housing homes envisaged. Figures released to me show that only 25 applications were made in the four local authorities in Dublin with only 5 lease agreements signed. In my own area of South Dublin County Council not one application has been made in 2018 under the scheme and not one property in Dublin is operational under the Scheme.
“In the most recent reply to my Parliamentary Question the Minister for Housing indicated that figures up to Q2 in 2018 show that 217 applications have been received nationally with 60 lease agreements but only 22 properties are operational through the Repair and Lease scheme across the country. It is shocking to think that in the Capital City where there is an estimated 30,000 vacant properties that not one has been turned into a suitable home to house the many people who are waiting to be housed. In Dublin the scheme has simply failed to address the housing and homelessness crisis, said Deputy Curran. “The Government attempted to address a number of problems with the scheme and changes were made in an attempt to make the scheme more attractive to property owners. However that was in February 2018 – nine months ago now. I sincerely hope that the entire scheme is re-examined particularly with the issues effecting property owners in Dublin. To date the scheme has failed miserably to deliver,” concluded Deputy Curran.
