'Absolute disgrace': Council bosses face €2.5m bill to restore vacant Longford houses
Local authority bosses are staring down the barrel of a €2.5m financial black hole due to a government funding shortfall in refurbishing empty council houses.
At present, the Department of Housing cover the cost of up to €11,000 per property for the refurbishment of standard vacant properties.
However, at a meeting of Longford Municipal District yesterday evening (Wednesday) it emerged the overall cost in restoring vacant houses across the county is costing the council in the region of €45,000.
Head of Finance John McKeon said up until recently the council had managed to bridge that gap through the sale of its own housing stock, an avenue that was now all but exhausted.
He said to date the council had forked out in the region of €1.5m to bring idle council homes back into stock, a figure that was likely to rise to a €2.5m shortfall over the coming months.
“It is becoming a huge financial matter for ourselves in 2023 and we are projecting we might have a shortfall of nearly €2.5m because of what are required to do,” he said, when referencing how the council was targeting a 3.5 per cent vacancy rate this year.
Those revelations drew a curt response from a number of elected members, most notably Councillors Gerry Warnock and Peggy Nolan.
Cllr Warnock warned of how the projected seven figure deficit could have far reaching consequences for a number of service divisions within the council as well as impact on the local authority’s well documented regeneration programme.
“ These guys are setting us targets we have to meet every year but they don’t seem to be able to fund those targets,” he said.
“If we are robbing Peter to pay Paul that will impact on our ability to progress our regeneration programme as quickly as we would like.
“The message has to go out loud and clear that the department needs to do more if they are expecting us to hit our targets or else we may have no other choice but to downscale their targets because at the end of the day we are feeding into a national housing plan.”
Cllr Nolan was just as animated, branding the financial burden facing the council an absolute disgrace”.
She said: “Absolutely the voids need to be brought up to standard, absolutely our tenants deserve the best, but if this is the directive and with everything being about carbon footprint and global warming, the department has to step up with the funding.
“All local authorities are facing the very same issue, they can’t bankrupt local authorities so if you want the work done to the standard we want, then at least fund us or we will have to cut down on the number of voids.
“With the housing crisis we are in, it's simply ludicrous we are even thinking about it.”
Fianna Fáil Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi, meanwhile, suggested one solution could be found in offering voids that are deemed outside of the targeted figures for refurbishment, to be offered to first time buyers.