Social Democrats Cllr. Cian O’Callaghan said:
“The report of the National Oversight and Audit Committee showing key performance indicators for local government in 2016 states that Social Housing Stock figures provided by local authorities could not be published due to errors and inconsistencies with data supplied. It is incredible to think that our local government watchdog cannot report on social housing delivery by Councils – this should not be a complicated exercise.
“This is part of a worrying trend regarding the unreliability of social housing stock delivery figures. For example, the Department of Housing and local authorities are publishing turned around voids as part of their delivery of social housing stock figures – when in fact these homes were always in use as social housing since they were built. Turning them around and getting them ready to be let again is not the delivery of additional social housing stock and should not be reported as such.
The report further states that:
- The average social house- reletting time has increased to 33 weeks
- 3% of local authority homes were vacant at the end of 2016
This increased time for local authorities to re-let properties to an average of 33 weeks is grossly unacceptable and is contributing to our current housing crisis.”
26 January 2018
ENDS