Empty Homes Network

The Irish media are reporting the announcement by Eoghan Murphy, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Goverment, of the measures that are being taken to tackle some of the Republic's 180,000 empty homes. The empty homes strategy itself has yet to be launched but it is a welcome approach that the infrastructre needed to implement it is already being put into place. Of particular importance is the creation of an Empty Homes Unit within the Housing Ministry. This has been one of the Empty Homes Network's long-standing policy proposals for the British government, which, disappointingly, has yet to receive any recognition by the political parties, whether in government or opposition. The fact that Ireland has created such a Unit shows that it is serious about delivery: it is hard to see how anything that warrants the name 'national strategy' can actually be delivered without such a dedicated role at national level. The Minister is reported to have said 'We need action taken at local level, with national coordination from my Department'. The government announcement seems to have been made in response to criticism by Father McVerry of the Peter McVerry Trust, one of Ireland's biggest homelessness charitities, who is reported to have said I’ve seen plans come and I have seen plans go, and they haven’t made a whit of a difference. This Government is ideologically prevented from addressing this. Happily, Father McVerry's criticisms seem in this case to be unfounded, although it is interesting that a ministerial statement on homelessness as recent as the 11th August made no mention of the specific developments identified in today's announcement. But with an Empty Homes Unit and a strategy in place, Ireland may become the first sovereign country to create an effective national iniitiative, blazing a trail for the rest of the world to follow. Absolutely nothing should be taken away from the role of the Housing Agency and Irish politicians in leading this ground-breaking initiative. Nevertheless, EHN members can feel that they have made at least some contribution as we were invited to reflect on our collective experience and present it at meetings with John O'Connor, the head of the Irish Housing Agency, at a national Empty Homes Conference in Dublin on 9th March, organised by the Peter McVerry Trust, and at a further meeting with senior housing officalis and political advisers the following day. (See the conference presentation here.) Among the measures already in hand, besides the creation of an Empty Homes Unit, the ministerial announcement mentioned that:

local authorities have been asked to designate vacant home officers in their areas;
a website, www.vacanthomes.ie, is now live for people who wish to anonymously log details of possible vacant homes, allowing local authorities to follow up with the owners to see if the properties can be re-used;

News reports: https://www.todayfm.com/Editors-Pick/New-Plan-To-See-Vacant-Homes-Brought-Back-Into-Use
https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0814/897193-vacant-homes/
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/government-plan-housing-crisis-homes-10982840
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/empty-and-over-shop-house-units-to-be-forced-into-use-457012.html