Ms ?ine Stapleton:

The Minister has been very clear on the communication with local authorities, that these acquisitions are to be devoted to those who are in housing assistance payment, HAP, or rental accommodation scheme, RAS, tenancies, who have received a notice of termination for reasons of sale. That messaging to local authorities has been really clear. The local authorities, of course, have responsibility for their allocation schemes. Part of the additionality to stock I outlined is helpful in this context because it gives local authorities a wider range of stock within which to make allocation decisions. The tenants in situ scheme is one element of the suite of solutions, as Ms Farrelly said, that they will available to them.

We leave a certain amount of that decision-making at local authority level, but the Minister has been very clear that the acquisitions are to be devoted to those who are at risk of homelessness and who are in a HAP or RAS tenancy.