Longford County Council says their social housing vacancy rate is reducing year on year. The statement comes in response to a recent Freedom of Information request from Sinn Fein breaking down the amount of social housing per county that is currently boarded up. Longford was shown to have one of the highest levels of boarded up council homes in the country outside of Dublin and other major cities. According to the data, the majority of the 50 homes in question have been boarded up for up to 6 months, with a number out of service for up to 18 months.
In response to the figures, Longford County Council say the social housing vacancy rate in the county stands at 2.3 percent. To tackle this, the local authority says they are implementing a comprehensive programme of works to tackle dereliction and return the homes to use. They continued on to say that empty properties take a varying amount of time to restore depending on the condition of the property on return to the council and the works required. A spokesperson from the Council told Shannonside FM News that NOAC national indicators are showing the social housing vacancy rate falling year on year.
