{"id":2025,"date":"2023-01-31T12:45:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T12:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/"},"modified":"2023-01-31T12:45:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T12:45:25","slug":"cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Vacancy rate of 4.3% represents tens of thousands of homes lying empty while 11,632 people are living in emergency homeless accommodation<\/strong><\/em><em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Vacant Dwelling Indicators released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) highlight the urgent need for a strong and effective Vacant Homes Tax, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that an estimated 4.3% of homes in Ireland are vacant is a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of people who are in dire need of housing. Shamefully, there are several electoral divisions with a vacancy rate of well over 20%.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParticularly concerning is that in Dublin, where the need for housing is most acute, the vacancy rate has actually grown since 2016. This would be unacceptable at any time. However, in the midst of a housing crisis, it is utterly unforgivable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA vacancy rate of 4.3% represents tens of thousands of homes lying empty while 11,632 people are living in emergency homeless accommodation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe figures released today provide a conservative estimate of the levels of vacancy. The CSO only counted vacant homes that have an active ESB connection, which many empty properties don&#8217;t have.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Government\u2019s new Vacant Homes Tax is far too weak to act as a real disincentive to speculators sitting on empty homes. At just 0.3% of the value of the property, this captures only a small fraction of rising house prices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are now 3,442 children living in emergency homeless accommodation \u2013 a 40% rise in just one year. The Government needs to start treating this crisis with the urgency it deserves by introducing a punitive Vacant Homes Tax.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn our alternative budget for 2023, the Social Democrats called for this tax to be set at 10%, with a number of fair exemptions. This would send a clear message to speculators sitting on empty homes in the middle of a housing disaster \u2013 use it, rent it, or sell it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRents, house prices and homelessness have never been so high. We don\u2019t have time for the ineffective half-measures this Government constantly proposes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>January 31, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vacancy rate of 4.3% represents tens of thousands of homes lying empty while 11,632 people are living in emergency homeless accommodation\u00a0 The Vacant Dwelling Indicators released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) highlight the urgent need for a strong and effective Vacant Homes Tax, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O\u2019Callaghan. \u201cThe fact [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,10,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cian-ocallaghan","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vacancy rate of 4.3% represents tens of thousands of homes lying empty while 11,632 people are living in emergency homeless accommodation\u00a0 The Vacant Dwelling Indicators released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) highlight the urgent need for a strong and effective Vacant Homes Tax, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O\u2019Callaghan. \u201cThe fact [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-31T12:45:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\"},\"headline\":\"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-31T12:45:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/\"},\"wordCount\":346,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Cian O'Callaghan\",\"Housing Crisis\",\"Press Release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/\",\"name\":\"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-31T12:45:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280,\"caption\":\"Cian O'Callaghan TD\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\",\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/zoo-admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate - Social Democrats","og_description":"Vacancy rate of 4.3% represents tens of thousands of homes lying empty while 11,632 people are living in emergency homeless accommodation\u00a0 The Vacant Dwelling Indicators released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) highlight the urgent need for a strong and effective Vacant Homes Tax, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O\u2019Callaghan. \u201cThe fact [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2023-01-31T12:45:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ZOO Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ZOO Admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/"},"author":{"name":"ZOO Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960"},"headline":"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate","datePublished":"2023-01-31T12:45:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/"},"wordCount":346,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg","articleSection":["Cian O'Callaghan","Housing Crisis","Press Release"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/","name":"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-31T12:45:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/4475-366-scaled-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"Cian O'Callaghan TD"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/cso-figures-highlight-need-for-punitive-vacant-homes-tax-rate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CSO figures highlight need for punitive Vacant Homes Tax rate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960","name":"ZOO Admin","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/zoo-admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}