Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, for coming to the House to discuss the tenant in situ scheme. I spoke to some councillors around the country who said that the issue they were finding in the local authorities was that the authorities did not receive extra funding, nor did they have the staff, to administer the scheme. The tenant in situ scheme plays an important role. I welcome the fact that the scheme has been extended and that, when it was stopped for a while, it was brought back. It has worked out very successfully in a lot of local authority areas but we need to make sure it is run as efficiently as possible. Certainly, we must ensure that people who may be in their homes long term end up staying in the same homes they are used to. It has been a wonderful scheme but it needs to be implemented as soon as possible. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Byrne for raising this important issue. It is an important scheme. This is something that was introduced as a key measure to prevent homelessness. It has been a success and it needs to continue so as to ensure the State still has capacity to purchase houses where a tenant is at risk of eviction or homelessness. It is key. In my response, I will outline the fact that the key focus of this Department is to ensure that as much of our resources as possible goes towards the actual purchase of houses rather than more resources going into administration, but I accept the bona fides and the feedback the Senator is receiving from councillors that some local authorities are obviously under pressure administering the scheme. It is certainly something we will look at it. I will go into more detail in my response.

The Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, has this year allocated some €325 million to fund acquisitions under the Department's social housing second-hand acquisitions programme, an increase from the €60 million committed under Housing for All. This allocation will fund acquisitions under four categories. These four categories include: exits from homeless services; tenancy sustainment, namely, tenant in situ; persons with disabilities and older persons requiring urgent housing responses; and buy and renew actions tackling vacancy and dereliction. More recently, the Minister, Deputy Browne, has secured an additional €50 million, which has been ring-fenced for acquisitions supporting households, particularly those larger families with children and housing first clients, to exit long-term homeless accommodation. This brings the total allocation for 2025 to €375 million.

Importantly, there is no tenant in situ scheme per se. Rather, acquisitions with tenants in situ are a category of purchase under the second-hand acquisitions programme, which help prevent social housing-supported households in the private rental sector from becoming homeless. In this regard, tenant in situ acquisitions are a last resort policy tool available to local authorities once all other options and measures to prevent a household becoming homeless have been exhausted.

It remains the case that, as a first step, the relevant local authority tenancy sustainment officer must engage with the relevant landlord on whether the threatened tenancy can be maintained within the current or an alternative social housing scheme. If this is not possible, the local authority must help the tenant to secure alternative private rented accommodation. Where an existing or alternative tenancy cannot be secured, the local authority must examine if a tenancy in a local authority or approved housing body social home can be facilitated. Thereafter, where these options have proven unfeasible, the local authority may proceed to support an acquisition of the property with the tenant or tenants in situ.

So far this year, a total of 118 acquisitions have been completed to support households existing homelessness into housing. A further 438 tenant in situ acquisitions have been completed, ultimately preventing these households from becoming homeless. With more than 16,600 persons in this State without a home, including some 2,450 families and more than 5,200 children, our focus has to be on maximising the impact of funding available for those households facing the most precarious housing situations.In this regard, and I know the Senator will consider this, we are obliged to use this funding to purchase as many homes as possible. Put simply, allocating any amount of this funding to other purposes, including administration costs, would only reduce the amount available for acquisitions and impact those households that otherwise would be supported to exit homelessness or be prevented from entering homelessness in the first place. Supporting households at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness remains a priority for the Government and support for tenant in situ is a key measure in this regard.

As I said, I appreciate the feedback on the administration. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Browne, about extra supports. The salient point is we need to put as much of our resources as possible into those purchases because they are the key tool in preventing homelessness.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the Minister of State's response and that he will go back to the Minister, Deputy Browne, in relation to this. I received this feedback from a number of local authorities, not just one. They all had the same issue. While I understand the majority of the money needs to be spent on those purchases, as that is the key issue with regard to the scheme, perhaps the local authorities could look at this. Not all of them are under pressure in this regard, but some are. If there was a small pot available, they could appoint someone part-time to get it up and running. I am sure the Minister of State will bring the matter to the Minister. I appreciate that and thank him.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I will do so. I know the Minister works closely with the different local authorities and county CEOs and meets them regularly. I am sure that challenge will be brought to his attention. As is constantly stated, the key objective is housing delivery. The homeless figures are unacceptable. We need to tackle homelessness and the way to do so is through supply. Some key measures have been introduced already, including incentives for apartment building and this week's announcement regarding developer-led infrastructure for wastewater. On their own, these measures will not solve the housing crisis, but together we should start to see an increase in supply, which is the key objective here. Tenant in situ, even though it is not called tenant in situ and is under the acquisitions scheme, remains a key part of that. If local authorities are under pressure from an administrative point of view, we will certainly not ignore it. I reiterate that the key focus has to be on the purchase of as many houses as possible.