Significant social housing opportunities can be achieved under NAMA

The number of unsold houses lying idle around the country will shortly come under the auspices of NAMA and this will offer enormous opportunities in terms of leasing unsold stock by local authorities and voluntary bodies for social housing purposes. It is clear that a substantial social dividend can now be achieved under NAMA. It is clearly not sustainable to allow a significant stock of perfectly good housing lie empty while there are households in need on local authority waiting lists around the country. The Government has acknowledged this and is in talks to secure a meaningful social dividend. If this is achieved, it will undoubtedly complement the work of NAMA in ensuring the stability of the financial system and providing a return on some of the houses under its remit. In recent weeks, the opposition have on a number of occasions referred to the number of vacant houses in the country as being in the region of 300,000. This is in fact incorrect and stems from a failure to pick up on an important distinction between total vacant stock and the excess vacant stock over normal levels. A report prepared for the Department of the Environment put the figure for excess stock over normal levels at approximately 140,000. The overhang figure of 140,000 provides a much clearer picture of the level of housing that is actually available for occupation, a more important consideration from the point of view of trying to match oversupply of housing with rising social housing need.

Michael Fitzpatrick is TD for Kildare North. Click here to contact your local TD.

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