Even with an agreed top-up, it still looks as if there will be less money next year to refurbish council homes 

Dublin city councillors agreed to spend an extra €1m next year on top of €12m suggested by council managers, to fund renovating vacant council properties, known as “voids”.

But that €13m is still well shy of the €25m spent this year, failing to dispel concerns that neighbourhoods will see an increase in boarded-up social homes despite long lists of those waiting to move in.

At a meeting of the full council on 20 November to agree on the budget for 2024, the report issued to councillors says the council will borrow to fund doing up voids, and also suggests the council examine how it lets people swap council homes, as one route for cutting the costs of refurbishing homes.

Council usually renovates social homes in between lettings. This appears to include situations where tenants are exchanging homes voluntarily.

“We must look to our own approach to vacant units through the housing transfer policy in place,” says the report. “Facilitating multiple transfers, we run contrary to our desired objective of stable communities and create considerable costs which could be avoided.”

The report doesn’t mention the possibility that it could offer more homes as-is, rather than stripping them out every time before new tenancies.

Sinn Féin Councillor Séamas McGrattan, who chairs the council’s finance committee, said the council was increasing its funding for voids even as the Department of Housing cut its share.

The department will fund 20 percent of the costs of renovating voids in 2024, says the report. That’s down from 25 percent, Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey has said.

Speaking at the budget meeting on 20 November, Fianna Fáil Councillor Deirdre Heney said the Department of Housing has announced extra money for voids.

“I’m really pleased to hear, Lord Mayor, that Minister Darragh O’Brien has announced this evening an additional €12.3m for voids,” she said.

By phone on Tuesday, she said that money is for Dublin City Council and is extra funding to refurbish vacant homes this year. She doesn’t agree that the funding has been cut for 2024, she said. “The government didn’t cut funding for voids.”

Dublin City Council and the Department of Housing didn’t respond in time for publication to queries about the voids budget, sent on Tuesday.

Some spending increases

Overall, the council’s budget has grown from €1.24 billion for 2023 to €1.34 billion for 2024, but inflationary pressures remain, the report says.

Some services are expected to be increased. The council agreed to scrub up the city by splashing €3 million to hire 100 more street cleaning staff, said council finance manager Kathy Quinn at the meeting.

Councillors welcomed that move. “Unclean streets are a breach of contract between citizens and the council,” said Green Party Councillor Janet Horner. “We really look forward to seeing that increase in resourcing.”

Discontent over the current state of the city’s streets in central areas has been growing. Illegally dumped rubbish festers for weeks even on streets that the council says that it cleans regularly.

Councillors also agreed an additional €3.5 million for parks compared to 2023 and promised €2 million to refurbish its all-weather pitches, while spending on the arts got a boost of €1.6 million.

Projected spending on homeless services is up €61 million, expected to top €301 million in 2024. That spending increase will be fully met by the Department of Housing, said Quinn at the meeting.

In previous years, the department funded 90 percent of homeless spending, and councils funded the remaining 10 percent.

Most councillors agreed with the budget allocations, and welcomed the work done to balance the books.

But People Before Profit Councillor Kelsey May Daly said that her party wouldn’t support the budget. “It delivers more empty promises than it does improvements to public services,” she said.

The council is too reliant on private companies to deliver homeless services, she said, and it fails to respond to thousands of maintenance requests from its social housing tenants each year.

Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey said that of a €1.34 billion budget, the councillors only control how a small portion of that is spent. Most is already allocated, he said.

“There are real flaws in the budgetary process,” says Lacey. “The notion that we are adopting this budget is a bit of a farce and a bit of a joke and we shouldn’t play along with it.”

Back to voids

Quinn said in the presentation that the council will borrow €36m over three years, providing €12m each year for renovating vacant council homes.

“This budget is based on a vacant unit refurbishment activity level of €12m, which is €9.6m funded by DCC and €2.4m funded by the Department,” says the report.

At the meeting, the councillors agreed to an amendment put forward by Sinn Féin’s McGrattan and Fianna Fáil’s Heney to allocate a further €1mn to voids, as well as €650,000 for cutting grass verges and €100,000 for animal welfare.

Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan said that the €12mn announced doesn’t compensate for budget cuts to voids. “That doesn’t in any way match the €15 million cut that central government has imposed on the voids budget. We are still €3 million short.”

Later, by phone, Heney said the Department of Housing is not reducing the funding for voids, but often provides extra money for this later on in the year.

The €12.3mn announced by the minister yesterday is part of €50mn national package and is to fund doing up voids for the rest of 2o23, she said. So far this year, Dublin City Council has refurbished 1,022 voids, she said, compared to 650 in 2022.

Said Heney: “The government didn’t cut funding for voids.”

Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty says that in 2018, the government funded 65 percent of the cost of renovating voids, and at a time of rising construction costs, it is reducing funding.

“Government has been systematically chipping away at how much it gives local authorities to get empty units back into circulation,” said Moriarty.