Kerry County Council has slowest social housing re-let times nationally

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

Refurbishment of social housing continues to pose a challenge to Kerry County Council as the local authority ranks longest nationally in terms of re-letting times.

An annual national audit of councils has found that Kerry County Council (KCC) takes an average of over 66 weeks to restore and re-let vacant social housing.

A total spend nationally of over €103m on social housing re-letting was reported by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) in 2025, with 3,324 units put back into use.

The national average was found to be under half of Kerry’s, at 32 weeks, with an average cost of just over €31,000.

The figures mark a roughly five-week increase in KCC’s re-letting times from 2024 which were the second highest in the country.

This may be due to the number of units that the council has had to take on at once, stated at 112 over 2025, but the report fails to provide these figures across all authorities for analysis.

For example, Limerick City Council has the second highest re-letting time at around 57 weeks, but only re-let 85 over the year.

In terms of re-letting costs, Kerry has the sixth highest average cost, at €40,133. This represents an increase of over €10,000 on 2024.

“The timely refurbishment and re-letting of vacant social housing units is consistent with best asset management practice,” the report notes.

Maintenance costs have also increased dramatically in Kerry, with the cost per social housing unit nearly doubling between 2024 and 2025, from €816.57 to €1,589.64.

This places KCC as the local authority with second highest increase, behind Waterford City and County Council.

However, though costs have increased, Kerry remains middle of the pack regarding social housing maintenance costs, with the national average per unit at €1,897.73.

The number of vacant local authority buildings in Kerry as increased slightly on 2024, from 2.76pc to 2.87pc.

Again, this leaves Kerry near the mean. The national average for 2025 is reported at 2.44pc.

A revised Planned Maintenance and Voids Programme is set to be introduced from 2027, supported by performance metrics which will be linked to funding available as part of the planned maintenance programme.

“This will enable local authorities to move towards a more proactive, stock condition led approach, identifying and addressing maintenance needs earlier, reducing repair requirements, and minimising vacancy periods,” the report states.