20 EMPTY HOUSES IN NEED OF WORK

There are currently 20 local authority vacant properties in the county that are unoccupied and require major refurbishment, it has been revealed.

According to the Louth County Council Monthly Housing Report, there are a further 19 unoccupied propertiese that require minor work and ten more that are awaiting allocation.

A further 15 are untenanted but are occupied, according to the report.

There are a total of 174 applicants on the list for transfer (Non-HAP) within Social Housing including 11 applications for the Approved Housing Bodies.

The Monthly Housing Report revealed that as of May 31st 2017 there have been 17 social housing allocations in Drogheda compared to 39 in Dunday, five voluntary housing allocations (17 in Dundalk), eight social housing refusals in both Drogheda and Dundalk and one voluntary refusal in Drogheda and nine in Dundalk.

There are 1432 council owned houses in Drogheda compared to 1734 in Dundalk and 593 in Ardee.

Some 1497 private rented properties have been inspected to date.

The report also notes that 724 advisory notes have been issued to landlords, 511 improvement notices have been distributed alongside 42 prohibition notices and 321 Rent Book Notices.

There were also 414 HAP Inspections carried out and 354 HAP improvement Notices. The total number of applications in HAP is 1,513.

Of these, 550 are in Drogheda, 828 are in Dundalk and 135 are in Ardee.

In terms of maintenance throughout the county, the report showed there were 2,527 requests for maintenance received with 1,878 of these still outstanding.

There are 65 applications which have been approved for Disability Adaption Works in 2017.

The report also notes that a number of vacant units in Drogheda are currently being identified and published for CPO.

As of May 2017, rent arrears of €5,039,680 were owed to the council.

The number of people in Drogheda who presented to the council as being homeless in May 2017 was 27. Of these, seven were placed in temporary emergency accommodation, four refused the offer of temporary emergency accommodation, and two were not elibible because they were from outside the county or non HRC.

A total of 14 people were offered advice and support including fast tracking housing authority for rent supplement eligibility.

The report states that 48 tenancies in Drogheda were being supported with sustainment packages funded by the Housing Authority in order to prevent homelessness.