Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will read the script and then come back with the specifics. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue.

Under Housing for All, there is provision for 200 social housing acquisitions each year. However, with increased pressures on housing and the exit of landlords from the market, the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, reinstated delegated sanction to local authorities in April 2022 to acquire social housing properties for a number of specific priority categories. One of the priority categories was to address homelessness, which would include the acquisition of a property to exit a household from emergency accommodation or the acquisition of a property that would prevent a household from becoming homeless.

For 2023 and again in 2024, the Government agreed there would be an increased provision for social housing acquisitions and the Department will provide funding for local authorities to acquire at least 1,500 social homes. The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, specifically requested that local authorities be proactive in acquiring properties where a HAP or RAS tenant had received a notice of termination due to a landlord’s intention to sell the property. The most recent circular issued to local authorities in March, setting out these revised arrangements and providing each local authority with a provisional allocation for social housing acquisitions in 2024. Local authorities have delegated sanction to deliver 1,300 additional acquisitions, subject to those acquisitions being within acquisition cost guidelines issued by the Department.

In 2023, Fingal County Council had an allocation to acquire 125 second-hand social homes. Fingal surpassed the allocation and acquired 234 homes, of which 210 were properties where the tenant received a notice of termination. Fingal also delivered 386 new-build social homes during that period.

It is a matter for individual local authorities to identify suitable acquisitions in line with local circumstances and their social housing allocations policy. The time required to compete a social housing acquisition can vary depending on the circumstances involved. Property purchases can be delayed for various reasons, such as title difficulties, which the Deputy referenced, planning issues, outstanding property taxes, general contractual conditions of sale not in place and so on. As the process is also reliant on timely progress from the vendor’s legal sales agent, timeframes vary from purchase to purchase. Local authorities take appropriate steps to ensure their first response will be to support households to try to prevent homelessness in cases where tenants have been served with a notice of termination by their landlord. It is important to acknowledge that the tenant in situ scheme has been a key measure in preventing homelessness and, as such, has mitigated such impacts for many households in 2023.

The Deputy raised the issue of ten families being at immediate risk of homelessness. Again, that is what the tenant in situ scheme is for. If the owner of the property is willing to sell and the opportunity is there to do so, it has been a good scheme. With regard to the specific cases the Deputy highlighted, she is correct that there are not sufficient HAP tenancies out there. They are simply not there in the numbers that are required, so I absolutely appreciate that.

If there is anything we can help with in the Department with Fingal County Council in trying to help these families, we would appreciate the details being provided to us and we can see what we can do to support them.

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