Council targets bringing vacant Mayo properties back into use

CENSUS 2022 identified 9,166 vacant homes in Mayo.

The council is developing a vacant homes strategy to bring properties back into use.

A draft of that strategy came before a meeting of Mayo County Council's Housing Strategic Policy committee on Friday. It will later go before a full meeting of the local authority for approval.

Efforts to tackle vacancy include the appointment of a dedicated vacant homes officer, the vacanthomes.ie website which is led nationally by Mayo County Council, a matchmaking pilot with Homebuyer's Hero, and the use of repair and lease and Croí Conaithe schemes, and CPOs.

The real difference tackling vacancy can have in a community was highlighted in a report to committee members by Tom Gilligan, director of services for housing.

He spoke about a three-bedroom cottage in Ballycroy, which the owner had inherited from his grandmother two decades ago. It would have 'fallen asunder', said the property owner, without the repair and lease scheme.

Instead it has been renovated and rented to a local family by the council.

Said the property owner: “I was worried I would just have to let the house fall asunder. There are so many vacant properties falling into decline which just need a bit of tender loving care at a time when there is a housing shortage.”

The report also stressed the benefits of bringing vacant homes back into use, including increased overall housing supply, creating jobs and protecting services such as schools and shops, and it being more cost-effective than starting from scratch.

There has been interest from Mayo property owners in availing of the various schemes.

There were 181 expressions of interest in repair and lease last year. A total of 29 applications for 91 units were received, with 19 properties brought back into use to date.

Croí Conaithe saw 281 expressions of interests in 2022, with a further 19 in January of this year. At the moment the total number of applications received is 47.

Council targets under each scheme for 2023 - '26 are: repair and lease 50 units; buy and renew 35 units; and Croí Conaithe 130 properties back into residential use.