Vacant houses key to 'releasing pressure' on housing crisis, says Cork TD

A CORK TD had said that vacant houses in Cork could be turned around to house people and “release the pressure” of the housing crisis.

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould raised concerns about the number of vacant dwellings in Cork and called for those dwellings to be made available to help tackle the current housing crisis.

It comes as the recently published Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) Census 2022 Profile 2 – Housing in Ireland report revealed that the number of vacant dwellings in Cork city and county was 17,055.

Nationally, housing stock in Cork grew by 5% from 229,495 to 240,942 between April 2016 and April 2022 and the number of vacant dwellings decreased by 14% from 19,937 to 17,055. 

The number of holiday homes rose by 2% from 7,272 to 7,444.

In Cork city, the housing stock was 91,107, the number of vacant dwellings was 5,061 and the number of holiday homes was 192.

In Cork County, the housing stock was 149,835, the number of vacant dwellings was 11,994 and the number of holiday homes was 7,252.

The report highlighted that a dwelling classified as vacant for census purposes does not necessarily imply that it is available for reuse. Census vacancy is a point-in-time measure that may be different from other reported measures of vacancy which may focus more on longer term vacancy.

“Look at the number of vacant homes at the moment in Cork," said Mr Gould.

"They could be turned around with a minimum amount of work and they could be rented out to people, to individuals and couples and families.

“That would help to reduce rents and would help house people and would be a win across the board.

“The big thing is vacancy. You could solve the housing crisis, not overnight, but you could release the pressure.” 

The report also showed that renters in Cork have continued to face large increases in the amount of rent they pay since 2016, with the average weekly rent paid to a private landlord in Cork in 2022 increasing by 40% to €252 when compared to 2016.

In April 2022, 139,518 homes were owner-occupied in Cork, compared with 131,399 in April 2016.

The number of homes owned with a mortgage or loan rose very slightly from 59,098 to 59,148 since Census 2016 while the number of homes owned outright (without a loan or mortgage) increased by 11%, from 72,301 to 80,370. Homes rented from private landlords showed a 4% increase from 36,031 to 37,618.

Deputy Gould said there are people in Cork who are buying homes not because they want to or feel ready to, but because the mortgage repayments are half the cost of their rent.

He said that it “can’t make sense” that people can get a mortgage on a house at a cheaper rate than what they are paying to rent a property.