Over six thousand homes brought back into use through Vacant Property Grants

Over 6,300 homes have been brought back into active use through Vacant Property Refurbishment Grants, the Government has confirmed.

These homes were brought back through grants worth in excess of €348.6 million, with a total of 14,377 applications approved since July 2022. A further 6,312 grants have been issued on completion of works.

In Q2 of this year, €52.6 million of grants were issued, the Government say that this has brought 923 vacant homes back into use so far.

Donegal County Council issued the most amounts of grants so far, bringing 542 properties back to use across one of Ireland’s largest counties.

In Donegal alone, there have been 1638 applications for the grant, with 1233 approved applications so far.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne said: “Six previously vacant properties are being brought back into active use every working day across Ireland. This is what I want to see. I do not accept properties being left needlessly idle in a housing crisis.

“The numbers being brought back into use demonstrate the real impact that targeted investment can have in bringing much-needed homes back into use.

“Since I became Minister, I have lasered in on the levels of vacancy and dereliction in this country and not just in our cities either.

“We have to bring homes that already exist back into use. They are there. They are usually near services and infrastructure, from paths to roads - all of which are being paid for every day by the taxpayer.

“This Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant is proving to be a highly effective measure. It gives people support to refurbish properties that might otherwise have remained empty. I want to encourage this.

“To be honest, we need the regeneration of towns and communities across the country, and at the heart of that is having people living in them.”