100 vacant Kerry homes given new life – Grants are clearly working says councillor

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

Kerry councillor has hailed council’s “very good work” as over 100 homes are put back into use via a government grant.

Councillor Jackie Healy-Rae said the property refurbishment grants were “clearly working” and urged the council to encourage more people to apply.

Kerry County Council has handed out 108 grants as part of the Vacant Property Grant (VPG) scheme, totalling over €5.8m.

The government’s VPG initiative allows owners of properties which have been vacant for over 2 years to apply for funding to renovate their building for residential purposes.

Grants can go up to €50,000 for a vacant property and €70,000 for a derelict site.

Cllr Healy-Rae highlighted that hundreds of people in Kerry will now have been rehoused due to the scheme, emphasising the importance of the work during the context of a housing crisis.

“Its something that has been criticised often in this chamber,” he said, “but its clearly working.”

“If we take an average of three people per household, that equates to more than 300 people living in refurbished homes.”

“We’d like to have it less complex, but you see the proof in the pudding now.”

Council data reveals that 58 per cent of the 726 applications received to date were approved, while only seven per cent were refused for not meeting grant requirements.

Cllr Healy-Rae pointed to the refusal rate, which has been the source of criticism in the past, and noted differences to previous years and decades.

“Some people think they can put in an application, get it rubber stamped, and money given to them by check,” he said, “that doesn’t happen anymore lads.”

Applicants who have been approved for the grant have 13 months to complete works at their property and submit a vouched expenditure and documentation for grant drawdown. A maximum of two grants can be given to a single person under this scheme.

Councillor Michael Folley said he thoroughly agreed with Cllr Healy-Rae’s motion, citing examples of people inheriting vacant properties by accident.

Capital gains tax is only levied on inherited assets when they are sold for profit, deterring many people from selling and exacerbating the problem of vacancies or dereliction in the county.

Cllr Foley said there needed to be some new incentive introduced into capital gains tax to encourage people sitting with inherited vacant property to sell it off and allow it a new lease of life.