Slump in delivery of Cork County Council housing in 2021
611 housing units were completed countywide in 2021, while 6,799 people were on the county housing waiting list.
There was a marked downturn in completion of local authority housing in Cork county in 2021, according to figures shared by Cork County Council’s housing executive.
While 752 housing units were completed in 2019 and 718 in 2020, just 611 were completed in 2021, with construction projects having taken a hit due to Ireland’s third Covid-19 lockdown, which lasted from Christmas 2020 until April 2021.
Meanwhile, 6,799 individuals were registered on the Choice Based Letting housing waiting list countywide in 2021:
1,676 people were on the housing list in West Cork
3,423 people were on the housing list in South Cork
1,700 people were on the housing list in North Cork
78% or 5,329 people, had logged into and used the system in 2021 and 2,045 tenants accepted offered properties.
These figures were presented by Cork County Council’s housing executive at the council’s Northern Committee meeting in mid-January.
In March 2021, the Construction Industry Federation had warned that Ireland’s third lockdown would “see the level of housing supply significantly undershoot the pre-Covid-19 projection for 2021 of 28,000 units” and that 10,000 homes in both private developments and under contract for local authorities may not be completed on target as a result of the lockdown.
Construction workers returned to work in April 2021.
87 vacant council houses in North Cork
Vacant county council houses also increased throughout 2021. There are presently 87 vacant council houses in North Cork alone: 54 of these are “long-term voids” and 33 are “casual vacancies.” 49 of these council houses either were undergoing works or did not have commencement dates for works to be carried out.
This is more than double the number of council voids recorded for November 2019, when there were 40 in the North Cork area.
1,028 vacant homes in the county
A total of 1,028 private vacant houses had been recorded on www.vacanthomes.ie in Cork county by January 2022. Cork County Council are assessing some of these properties for suitability for social housing. According to the housing executive’s report:
73 were duplicate entries
58 were in the process of being brought back into use either by the owner or Cork County Council
141 were being sought for inclusion in the council’s Buy and Renew scheme.
€83 million spend
In total, Cork County Council spent €83,443,455 on housing in 2021, with over €67 million spent on Local Authority housing including acquisitions, Turnkey properties, repossessions, the Buy and Renew scheme, repair and leasing, with other expenditure including €2.6 million on retrofitting, €4.7 million on private housing grants, and €2.6 million on repairing council voids.