4,000 vacant homes in Limerick, plus 1,209 derelict
Geodirectory released their Residential Buildings report last week providing an up to date analysis of housing in Ireland.
There are around 4,000 vacant dwellings in Limerick city and county according to the report, 4.6% of all properties. On top of this there are also 1,209 dwellings deemed derelict. This compares to only 293 on the Limerick City & County Council official derelict sites register. The report tracks derelict dwellings between 2016 and 2021 and has calculated that there has only been a net reduction in the number of derelict properties in Limerick of 15 over those 5 years - a rate of only 3 a year.
According to their report, 547 new dwellings were registered in 2021 across Limerick city and county, 0.7% of total county stock. This is slightly below the national average of 0.8% increase, and around half the rate of new builds as some counties. Counties Kildare (1.8%), Wicklow (1.6%) and Meath (1.3%) in the Dublin commuter belt experienced the highest relative increase in dwellings year-on-year.
Of all 442 properties sold in Limerick city in 2021 just 0.5% or, 22 properties, were new builds. This compares to 12.7% in Galway, 7.8% in Cork and 6.3% in Waterford.
In response to the report People Before Profit spokesperson Ruairí Fahy said:
"This report shows that Limerick has a long way to go to deliver appropriate housing to meet the current needs, let alone to provide for growing the population in the years to come
"There are over 240 people in emergency accommodation across the county and even more in crowded unsuitable accommodation. Bringing the 4,000 vacant properties identified in this report back into use would go a long way to improving the lives of people in official and hidden homelessness
"While Limerick Council has been more proactive than other councils when issuing CPOs on derelict sites there is a long way to go. The derelict sites register currently includes less than 10% of derelict buildings identified by this report and CPO'd buildings are often sold on to private buyers at low costs that could make the properties worth hoarding, even if the dereliction levy is collected. Instead of being sold off to investors, these buildings should be publicly developed to meet our housing needs.
"With derelict homes entering the Council's hands there is a chance to build up public housing stock and provide local jobs bringing these homes back into use. With dereliction so high in the city and across the county Limerick should lead the way and provide an alternative to market base housing."
