Laois County Council have received a grant of €2 million from the Department of Housing, Local Development and Heritage under the Refurbishment and Regeneration Development Fund.
The funding relates to Portlaoise town only and is designed to address long-term vacancies.
The news was delivered by Chief Executive, Mr John Mulholland at the monthly meeting of Laois County Council this week.
Mr Mulholland was delivering the Monthly Management Report, which included several important figures related to housing across Laois.
There are currently 324 Social Housing Schemes underway in the county, including 143 in Portlaoise as well as 31 in Stradbally and 26 in Borris-in-Ossory.
A further 322 properties are at the planning, design, or tender stage.
Mr Mulholland told the chamber that Laois County Council is currently half-way through their survey of properties that have been identified as being vacant.
To date, 698 properties have been surveyed, with 400 found to be vacant and 23 deemed derelict.
The 400 vacant properties include new builds, as well as properties in a state of disrepair.
Some of these have been classed as uninhabitable and are considered beyond repair.
The next step in this process will be contacting the owners of the properties and outline the schemes available to return these properties to use for housing.
Where ownership cannot be established and all means of returning the properties to use have been exhausted, the Council will begin the CPO (Compulsory Possession Order) process.
60 properties have entered the CPO Activation Programme, with 16 CPO’s carried out thus far in 2023.
There are currently 1,743 applicants on the waiting list for Social Housing.
186 applicants have been provided with keys to a home so in the first 6 months of the year.
SEE ALSO – New road safety works set to take place at Scoil Mhuire Abbeyleix
