Could Clare Have Fewer Vacant Homes Than Previously Thought?

Photo (c) Clare County Council

A new Council report has cast doubt on CSO data which suggested there are thousands of vacant homes in Co. Clare.

The most recent census in 2016 showed there were over 6,000 vacant properties here, leading to calls for these homes to be utilised during the housing crisis.

But that has proven to be difficult to date.

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Census 2016 results showed nearly 11,000 vacant homes throughout Clare, and 6,104 of those were NOT holiday homes.

However, the figures have already been questioned before now as An Post’s GeoDirectory system – which analysed addresses – showed 2,700 unoccupied dwellings.

Now, however, a new Council report into vacant homes has suggested even that figure may be too high.

The local authority has sought to bring vacant homes back into use, where appropriate, to deal with the housing crisis.

They’ve assessed areas in and around Ennis, as well as the Shannon Municipal District that extends to areas close to Limerick, and found a total of just 525 vacant properties.

A further analysis of those homes led the local authority to conclude that less than 100 were suitable for purchase or lease for use as social homes, and to date the Council is on track to purchase only six of those.

While not all areas have been profiled in this way, these results are enough to suggest that previous estimates of the number of vacant homes here could be far too high, and that there may be limited effectiveness in looking to vacant homes as a solution to the housing crisis.