Cork city social housing: an average of 75 weeks lying empty
Cork City Council was the worst-performing local authority in the country for delays in turning around social housing for re-letting in 2021, according to newly released figures.
Cork city council houses that were re-let during 2021 had lain empty for an average of 75 weeks, according to a report into the performance of local authorities published by the Department of Housing and Local Government today.
This made Cork City Council the worst performing local authority for turning around housing in the country last year, by almost ten weeks.
Galway County Council took an average of 66 weeks to renovate for re-let.
Wexford County Council took just 13 and a half weeks to renovate council houses and re-let them, at a cost of €9,057.71.
But it cost an average of €26,321.09 and took almost a year and a half for Cork City Council to renovate each council house to make it ready for re-letting, the report reveals.
Cork County Council, meanwhile, was able to turn around social houses for re-let in 48 weeks at an average cost of €25,188.64.
City councillors including Cork City South-Central’s Mick Finn have for years expressed the opinion that Cork City Council needs more resources from central government for housing maintenance and repairs.
Cork City Council has 10,403 social housing units, making it the local authority with the second highest number of social housing units in the country. Only Dublin City Council, which has 24,330 houses, has more.
837 vacant social housing units in Cork, 437 people in emergency accommodation
837 social houses lay empty in Cork city and county in the last week of 2021, the report reveals, while there were 438 people in emergency accommodation according to the housing department’s December 2021 homelessness report.
4.37% of Cork City Council’s 10,390 local authority dwellings were vacant at the end of 2021, while 5.27% of Cork County Council’s 7,276 dwellings were vacant.
400 extra council houses in city and county in 2021
There was a net growth of 400 council houses in Cork city and county in 2021, with 13 houses added to Cork City Council housing stock and 387 added in Cork county.
In mid-October Tripe + Drisheen published a Long Read on lengthy delays in social housing New Builds in Cork county.
