More than a third of people living in emergency accommodation in Clare are considered long-term homeless.
Despite this, over 2.5% of Clare County Council’s social housing stock was unoccupied at the end of last year.
The local authority only marginally boosted its social housing supply in 2023.
Clare County Council had 2,860 social homes in its ownership at the beginning of last year and would finish with 2,894, an increase of barely more than 1%.
41 new homes were constructed or acquired by the council last year, while 7 were sold and 1 more is planned for demolition as part of an approved Department of Local Government, Heritage and Housing Scheme.
At the end of the year, just 2.59% of homes owned by the local authority where vacant, which was among the lowest rates nationwide.
Vacancies can arise in social housing when the occupant passes away or moves out.
When a social house was vacated last year, it usually took Clare County Council over 36 weeks to re-let the tenancy at an average cost of €26,625.37.
While the local authority also spent on average of €1,539 on maintenance of its social housing stock.
Turning to emergency accommodation, the National Oversight and Audit Commission found that 36% of adults availing of services in Clare were considered long-term homeless, this was the 6th lowest total of any local authority nationwide.
