WE HAVE MORE VACANT HOMES THAN WE HAVE PEOPLE IN NEED OF HOUSING

IT’S a scene that has become all too familiar to anyone passing through towns and villages across the country – vacant and derelict properties scattered across the streets and the countryside where once stood homes and thriving businesses.

Although trends in remote working offer exciting opportunities to rejuvenate rural communities, it’s clear the regeneration of towns and villages also depends on our ability to tackle the long-standing challenge of vacancy and dereliction.

The sheer scale of this problem was revealed in new research from the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, which found that around 45,000 homes and commercial properties were either vacant or derelict in the west and northwest region alone.

To put this in context, the number of empty properties in the region is higher than Ireland’s overall housing requirement of 33,000 homes a year. And it is more than six times higher than the 6,994 households in the region who qualified for social housing support in 2020 but whose needs were not met.

This challenge is acutely felt in the west and northwest, where our research has found almost threequarters (72%) of the region’s towns and villages recorded a residential vacancy rate above the national average. And most (59%) also registered a commercial vacancy rate above the national average.

On a national level, our research – which was based on the GeoDirectory vacant and derelict databases – found just under 99,000 residential properties and just over 23,000 commercial properties were classed as vacant or derelict. This does not include properties that are temporarily vacant, such as those waiting to be sold or rented, and also excludes holidays homes.

The Government’s recently announced Town Centre First Policy is a step towards addressing vacancy and dereliction. The policy promises to appoint Town Regeneration Officers, establish a new National Town Centre First office, and invest in towns and villages using existing funds and the new Croí Cónaithe fund.

But as welcome as these measures are, more action will be needed to revitalise towns and villages, and three areas are vital in addressing this challenge.

First, it’s clear that a regional approach is needed. As just under 40% of all vacant and derelict properties in Ireland are in the west and northwest, it is imperative that at least 40% of funding available to regenerate empty properties is ringfenced for projects in this region. Targeting regions that are most affected should be central to the Government’s response in the coming years.

Second, taxes will be crucial to activating vacant and derelict properties. The design and implementation of the upcoming residential zoned land tax will be key to penalising owners of vacant and derelict properties who, without reasonable justification, fail to renovate them. Across the world, taxes are commonly used to penalise owners who fail to redevelop empty properties, to discourage market speculation and encourage regeneration, and the rate of tax should depend on the yearly rate of land inflation in the area.

Finally, significant Government supports, in the form of new grants, subsidies or low-cost loans, are needed to encourage potential or existing property owners to redevelop vacant and derelict properties. The absence of such supports at present is likely to be discouraging people from redeveloping these properties and it is important that the Government examines which financial instrument is most suited to encouraging regeneration.

By focusing on these areas, and by swiftly implementing the Town Centre First Policy, we can encourage the redevelopment of vacant and derelict properties in our towns and villages, revitalising these areas and allowing them to become the economic, social and cultural centres of their communities once again.