Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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236. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has been informed by a local authority (details supplied) of the number of applications, successful, and unsuccessful carried out in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, on the tenant in situ scheme; and if he will publish that data and the number of tenants it impacts. [7857/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Housing for All, is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes by 2030. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the Land Development Agency and €5bn funding through the Housing Finance Agency.

Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes and 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing in the period 2022-2026. Our clear focus is to increase the stock of social housing through new build projects delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) and, with this, to reduce the numbers of social homes delivered through acquisition programmes. While my Department does not operate a specific tenant in situ scheme, acquisitions of second hand properties for social housing fall under a number of local authority and Approved Housing Body (AHB) acquisitions programmes.

In January 2022 my Department issued a circular letter to local authorities advising that social housing acquisitions by local authorities and AHB CALF acquisitions in 2022 would be focused on a number of priority areas, as follows:

- One-bedroom units to deliver on Housing First and meet the short supply in this category;

- Other properties that allow persons/families to exit homelessness; and

- Specific housing required for/suitable for individuals with a disability or other particular priority needs;

Local authorities were also advised that limited acquisitions through the Capital Assistance Scheme will also be approved, subject to the available budget for specific vulnerable cohorts, such as housing for older people, accommodation for individuals and families who are homeless and for people with a disability.

In April 2022, a further circular letter issued to local authorities in relation to social housing acquisitions. The key purpose of this circular was to advise local authorities that I had reinstated the delegated sanction to local authorities in respect of social housing acquisitions which are:

(i)in one of the priority categories set out in the January circular letter;

(ii) in line with acquisition cost guidelines; and

(iii) can be completed during 2022.

The reinstatement of delegated sanction has allowed local authorities to respond more flexibility to secure acquisitions which support a household to exit or to prevent homelessness. I have requested local authorities to be proactive in acquiring properties which can prevent homelessness, including properties where a notice of termination has been issued to the tenant. In November I wrote to local authorities to inform them that the current arrangements for social housing acquisitions were being extended to the end of June 2023.

My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity in all local authorities, including information on social housing acquisitions. This data is available until the end of Quarter 3 2022 and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/ . Data for Quarter 4 is currently being collated and will be published in due course.

My Department does not hold data on the number of queries a local authority receives in relation to purchasing a property with a tenant in situ. Further information may be available directly from the relevant local authorities.