THE civic mindedness of Limerick people will be called into play by the local authority as part of an initiative to gather information on vacant homes around the city and country.
According to Census 2016, there are 8,184 vacant units in Limerick (6,153 are houses, 1,599 are apartments and 432 holiday homes). However, other information sources suggest that the actual level of vacancy may be much lower.
Now Limerick City and County Council is looking at VacantHomes.ie as part of its plans at tackling vacant and derelict properties.
The initiative gathers valuable information on vacant homes so that local authorities can get in touch with the owners and ascertain if the property can be re-used quickly. The information is submitted anonymously by Irish citizens, and will be used by local authorities as part of their overall plans for vacant homes.
The information gathered will be fed in to Limerick City and County Council who will use the data to get the most up-to-date and accurate information about vacant units and their status.
Limerick people can log onto VacantHomes.ie and list any property they think could be utilised to help tackle the housing crisis. When people are logging details they can do so anonymously so they are not expecting or anticipating an immediate reply.
The new initiative aims to raise awareness of vacant homes and the need to bring them back in to use as well as helping to develop a national database of vacant homes throughout the country.
“It’s important though to highlight that trying to contact property owners and get them to engage takes time. A lot of these properties have been vacant a very long time and the public must appreciate that it is not possible or feasible to turn around a property in a matter of weeks or months or longer for that matter. In some cases properties logged cannot be used for housing,” a council spokesperson commented.
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