Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Changes to the tenant in situ scheme are of significant concern for some constituents who face the very real prospect of homelessness because a scheme that was working has been effectively dismantled. When a landlord decided to sell, the local authority could step in, buy the property and keep the family in their home. It was straightforward and cost-effective and it worked, but last year the Department made a critical change. Local authorities cannot reclaim the cost of refurbishing properties they buy under the scheme. That might sound like a minor detail, but it is not. It is a decision that is making the scheme unworkable. The result is that councils are walking away from these purchases. They are not walking away because the family does not need the home but because the scheme is financially unsustainable for them.

In County Clare, this matter is particularly serious. Our private rental stock is older than the national average. Properties in our more rural and coastal locations often need more refurbishment before they can be let as social housing. We can see the impact in the numbers. In 2023, this scheme delivered 1,830 acquisitions. In 2024, it was 1,501. Last year, 2025, there were only 775 houses delivered.

At its peak, the tenant in situ scheme accounted for 46% of all homelessness prevention activity nationally. By December of last year, that figure had fallen to 11%. According to a recent media report, Clare County Council has only spent €1.45 million out of its €4 million allocation, which is very disappointing. I personally know of several cases where the council would not purchase the house because of the cost of refurbishing it to modern rental standards.

This scheme was one of the State’s most effective tools for preventing homelessness. There should be no difference to the public purse whether this is achieved through the purchase and renovation of a property a tenant already lives in or moving them into a new build and renovating it afterwards. People in houses should be the measure of success, not the number of houses built. Preventing homelessness is the goal, regardless of what we do.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Cooney for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Browne. I am happy to do so. I will pass on Deputy Cooney's thoughts and concerns about the tenant in situ scheme to the Minister.

Tenancy sustainment, also known as tenancy in situ, is not a stand-alone programme or scheme. It is a priority category under the Department of housing's social housing second-hand acquisitions programme, which helps to prevent social housing supported households in the private rental sector from becoming homeless. Such acquisitions are an option for local authorities to support households in the most precarious housing situations. They will continue to be available to local authorities for use as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted. However, they will never be the sole or even the primary option. The default first options should almost always be securing the sustainment of the tenancy with the landlord, securing alternative accommodation through the tenancy sustainment and placefinder services, or allocating a local authority or approved housing body tenancy via a new build home or relet. Where acquisitions are deemed necessary, local authorities may pursue individual priority acquisitions without recourse to the Department, once they satisfy the broad parameters and criteria of the second-hand acquisitions programme.

Some €373 million is available to be drawn down by local authorities and approved housing bodies under this year's programme. With more than 17,000 persons in emergency homeless accommodation, including more than 5,000 children, the primary focus of this year's programme is to help households to exit emergency homeless accommodation into permanent housing. To this end, the largest share of funding available for draw-down, some €150 million, is ring-fenced for acquisitions supporting households and taking them out of homelessness. Thereafter, some €50 million is available to approved housing bodies for urgent acquisitions for older people, those with disabilities and caregivers. The remaining €173 million comprises €157 million for local authority priority acquisitions, including tenant in situ purchases, and a contingency of €16 million for local authorities that have drawn down most of their allocation but can complete further acquisitions and draw down the funding from the Department before the end of the year.

Clare County Council has been allocated an initial €1.7 million, with €800,000 and €900,000 earmarked for approved housing body and local authority priority acquisitions respectively. Consistent with the eligibility criteria introduced last year, refurbishment or adaptation costs are no longer an eligible cost for tenant in situ acquisitions. Generally, extensive refurbishments of those properties should not be required. They already benefit from significant Exchequer-funded rent supports through the housing assistance payment or rental accommodation scheme and, critically, must comply fully with the housing regulations. If refurbishment is required, local authorities need only undertake works necessary to comply with the regulations, effectively ensuring that homes are immediately safe, secure and warm. In such cases, local authorities can draw on the significant rental funding available to them through their respective annual budgetary processes. Notably, Clare County Council's adopted budget for 2025 suggests only 77% of its rental income would be invested in social housing management and maintenance. Local authorities may also draw on their respective internal capital receipts, and the Department of housing's planned maintenance and voids programme.

Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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As far as I can see, the scheme is not working as well as previously. I ask the Minister of State to consider a number of things to make it work better in the future. Reinstate the scheme to its original state. Failing that, reinstate it for properties where refurbishment costs are proportionate to a purchase which is often worse value. Provide county-level data on acquisitions that have been declined or not pursued since March 2005 due to the refurbishment cost barrier. Provide data from each local authority about the number of tenants who have presented as homeless, following the refusal to purchase the property under this scheme. Let us all see the scale of this problem. The tenant in situ scheme was built on a simple principle of keeping families in their homes. The refurbishment exclusion has undermined that principle. I ask the Minister of State to restore the old scheme. I think it would work better for people going forward.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I will absolutely relay the Deputy's suggestions to the Minister. I will now read the remainder of the reply from the Department.

Local authorities may also draw on their respective internal capital receipts, and the Department of housing's planned maintenance and voids programme, energy efficiency retrofit programme, and disabled persons grants scheme, to support non-essential works that can be carried out in the long term. In this regard, Clare County Council projected that some €600,000 or so would be on hand via its internal capital receipts at the end of 2025, while a further €3.4 million is available to the council this year through the Department's stock improvement programmes. Ultimately, the delivery of new build social housing at scale is the only strategic solution preventing and alleviating long-term homelessness. Accordingly, and noting record delivery of new build social housing last year, demand for acquisitions should start to taper off as a greater level of new stock is delivered year on year. As I said, I will certainly relay Deputy Cooney's suggestions and observations to the Minister for housing and ask him to respond to the Deputy directly.