Mayo County Council accused of 'stockpiling' vacant homes
Mayo County Council has been accused of stockpiling vacant properties. Photo: iStock
A Mayo councillor has described as “unforgivable” the fact that Mayo County Council currently owns 50 vacant houses.
Aontú Cllr Paul Lawless has hit out at the local authority, branding it the “biggest hoarder” of vacant houses in the county.
"Figures obtained by Aontú under Freedom of Information show that in 2023 there were 65 vacant council houses in Mayo. Another request this year puts the current figure at 49. Nationally, there are currently 3,976 vacant council houses. The figure last year was 3,544. It is shocking to see that since the last time Aontú asked for these figures, while some progress has been made in Mayo, the council is still sitting on 50 empty houses, while homeless figures continue to soar."
He raised the issue at the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council.
"The biggest hoarder of vacant houses in the country is the State itself. In Mayo, the council owns 2,410 houses. There are 1,032 people on the housing waiting list. These vacant houses are in public ownership. In local authorities across the country, it takes an average of eight months to bring a new tenant into the property when it is vacated by the previous tenant. In the private rental market, the turnaround time would be about three weeks. The council needs to do better. In some cases, council-owned houses have been left empty for years".
He accused Mayo County Council of contributing the the homelessness crisis in the county.
"In Mayo, I find it very difficult when I'm making representations to the council on behalf of constituents on the verge of homelessness, and I'm told there is nothing the council can do to help, but now I know that while they're saying this to me, they're sitting on up to 50 vacant houses.
"The Government has put in place measures to bring private houses back into the rental market - such as the vacant property refurbishment grant - we need specific funding from the Government to tackle vacancy of council-owned houses too. The vacant property refurbishment grant should be extended to local authorities as well as private owners," Cllr Lawless added.
