2014-04-22 - Socio Economic Review 2014 - Full text and cover - FINAL

or green areas and are located a good distance away from amenities or services
(Kitchin et.al. 2010).
The Progress Report on Actions to Resolve Unfinished Housing Developments
(Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, 2012) indicates
that as a result of recommendations from the Advisory Group on Unfinished
Housing Developments (2011) the Government’s initial priority was to address
public safety issues. But it also aimed to bring together the main stakeholders at
national, regional and local level to ensure that there was a coordinated response,
to put in place stronger legislation with a view to ensuring the engagement of
developers in resolving any unfinished estates and to build confidence in the
housing sector by engaging in best practice in regard to utilising vacant housing for
beneficial use.
The first report assessing the numbers of unfinished housing developments released
in 2011 indicated that from a total of 2,876 housing development sites of two or more
dwellings, there are 2,066 unfinished housing developments in the country. Of
these, 1,822 were predominantly inactive at the time of inspection and only 245
active. The number of developments still considered ‘unfinished’ in the 2013 survey
had fallen to 1,258, of which 992 developments have residents living in them
(Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, 2011, 2013).
Social Justice Ireland believes that Government should continue to meet
commitments given to prioritise those estates with people living in them and which
remain unfinished; this is vital given the social consequences as outlined above.
It has been indicated that the numbers of vacant homes and the completion of
unfinished housing estates are features of the current housing landscape in Ireland
which provide some opportunities for the Government to address ongoing housing
need. The Irish Council for Social Housing and the National Association of Building
Cooperatives have indicated that ‘opportunities exist for the voluntary and
cooperative sector to have an impact on the issue of unfinished housing
developments by working in partnership with Local Authorities to serve local social
housing need’ (Advisory Group on Unfinished Housing Developments, 2011:12).
Social Justice Ireland considers it imperative that the Government continue to assess
the appropriateness of vacant estates/individual sites to be used for social housing
and advise local authorities/AHBs on how best to transfer these units to social use.
The potential role which could be played by NAMA in addressing social housing
need has been indicated but progress has been slow. ‘To date demand has been
confirmed by the Local Authorities for 1,900 properties that NAMA has made
available (This relates to all developments and not just developments identified as
‘unfinished’). A further 290 properties are currently being evaluated bringing the
total that may be deemed suitable to 2,190 potentially. Contracts have been signed
146 Socio-Economic Review 2014