Kerry County Council has over 3,200 (3,254) active tenancies.
That’s according to figures provided at the recent full council meeting, in response to a motion from Fianna Fáil councillor, Niall Kelleher.
The statistics show that between 2018 and 2023, there was an 83% drop in council properties under the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme.
The figures show that Kerry County Council currently has over 1,600 (1,608) active HAP tenancies.
Almost 560 (558) tenancies are active under the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS).
Meanwhile, it has just under 1,100 leased tenancies; over 800 (802) of which are Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) leased properties, while almost 300 (286) are privately leased properties.
The council says a very limited number of new tenancies are created through RAS or Leasing annually, with the vast majority of housing being HAP tenancies.
Between 2018 and 2023, properties under leasing fell by 83%, with 83 in 2018m down to 15 last year.
There was a 79% drop in RAS housing in the county over the same period (56 in 2018, 12 in 2023).
Meanwhile, HAP tenancies in Kerry decreased from 566 in 2018, to 232 in 2023, a 83% reduction.
Cllr Niall Kelleher says the figures are very disappointing, highlighting his concerns over the year-on-year reduction on the provision of leasing.
In response Kerry County Council says a shortage of housing has been a contributing factor to this decrease.
It added the government has also moved away from issuing long term leases and the maximum term for a standard availability lease is now 6 years.
