Plans for Ukrainian refugee housing will not provide ‘an awful lot’ – expert

Government plans to use vacant social housing for Ukrainian refugees will not provide “an awful lot of housing”, an expert has warned.

Dr Lorcan Sirr, housing lecturer Technical University Dublin, said the number of empty houses under public ownership – known as voids – which could be brought back into use would be "small".

“The last report I could find was from 2021, on the previous year’s figures, and there were only about 4,570 voids in the country and a lot were void or empty for good reason – they were awaiting demolition or regeneration,” he said.

“Each one was costing €21,000 to refurbish which is probably more like €25,000 or €30,000 now, and taking on average around 46 weeks [to refurbish].

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“Combine those three things, and they are very much medium to long term solutions. But the biggest problem is they are not going to provide an awful lot of housing.”

More than 25,000 refugees from Ukraine have arrived in Ireland in the last two months. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has ruled out placed a cap on the number arriving.

A cross-sectoral and cross-departmental housing taskforce has been established to develop longer-term housing options in response to the war in Ukraine.

The taskforce is examining the conversion of vacant buildings, both State owned and private, into suitable accommodation for those fleeing Ukraine

Dr Sirr, also a board member on the Irish Refugee Council, warned that if the plan was the "cornerstone" of Government proposals to resolve the looming refugee housing crisis then "the biggest void is one of ideas and implementation."

‘Obvious’ solutions

There are "two really obvious" solutions to the need for more housing for those fleeing the invasion by Russia, the academic suggested.

Firstly, large scale build-to-rent apartments, which were being completed at a rate of 450 a month last year, with “thousands around, and tens of thousands coming down the line,” he said.

Secondly, there are 62,000 holiday homes around the country, many of which could be used to house refugees, he added.

Holidaying in west Cork and Kerry recently, he said he noted "thousands" of holiday homes "sitting doing nothing."

While a lot are rented out during the year “an awful lot are not and are lying idle.”

Only 10 to 20 per cent of the newly-completed build-to-rent apartments and holiday home stock would be needed to resolve the Ukrainian housing crisis, he said.

Many holiday homes are in towns and villages and “not out in the middle of nowhere as some critics would say.”

Dr Sirr said the Government would need to rely on the “good will” of both property investors and holiday home owners to access the housing stock, which he suggested should be rented to the State at a “flat rate, not a market rate”.

“Investors are always saying they are part of the solution, not part of the problem [of the housing crisis].. it would be good to see them step up,” he added.

The Government is “missing two really important sources” of housing, by instead looking at voids “which it should be doing anyway,” he told RTÉ’s News at One.