Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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419. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider relaxing the rules in relation to the bedrooms required in order that purchasing a property with a tenant in situ could be more widely used. [12817/23]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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430. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the breakdown, by local authority for the number of tenant in-situ properties bought by local authorities since the measure was introduced, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12969/23]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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431. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount being provided to allow local authorities to purchase tenant in-situ properties, by each local authority, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12970/23]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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447. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to amend the tenant in situ scheme to introduce mandatory local authority purchase for certain tenants who are supported through the housing assistance payment or rental accommodation scheme. [13105/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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451. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will outline any constraints, price or otherwise to the county council's acquisition programme and the tenant in situ programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13167/23]

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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459. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will publish the number of properties sold to the State through the tenant in-situ scheme, by local authority in each month since October 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13258/23]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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461. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the maximum number of units which will be purchased under the tenant-in-situ scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13272/23]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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462. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount of additional funding that will be made available to each local authority to purchase homes under the tenant-in-situ scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13273/23]

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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478. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government whether local authorities that utilise the tenant in situ scheme will be able to request additional funding for increased maintenance costs. [13454/23]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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495. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if, following statements by him on 12 March 2023 (details supplied) his Department will require revised Estimates for 2023; if so, the increased allocation that will be required; and if not, the capital allocation that will be reallocated within his Department’s estimates. [13734/23]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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497. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the actions the Government will take to ensure that local authorities are purchasing properties under the tenant purchase scheme, given reports that only 13 homes were bought by Dublin local authorities, even though 400 were offered to local authorities by landlords exiting the market; his views on whether this scheme should be implemented alongside an extension to the eviction ban; and his views in response to an article in the media (details supplied). [13770/23]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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499. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide in tabular form information on tenant-in-situ applications by local authorities including applications, rejected applications, applications at valuation stage applications with legal departments of councils, applications where offers have been made and sales closed; and to provide totals for all questions. [13784/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 419, 430, 431, 447, 451, 459, 461, 462, 478, 495, 497 and 499 together.

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, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. 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 (AHBs).

Under Housing for All, there was provision for 200 social housing acquisitions each year. However, with increased pressures on housing and the exit of landlords from the market, my Department reinstated delegated sanction to local authorities in April 2022 to acquire social housing properties for a number of specific categories which included:

- 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;

For 2023, the Government has agreed that there will be increased provision for social housing acquisitions and my Department will fund local authorities to acquire up to 1,500 social homes and my Department will keep this number under review. The additional acquisitions will be focused on properties where a tenant in receipt of social housing supports has received a Notice of Termination due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. A circular letter issued to all local authorities on 14 March, setting out details of these arrangements. I have requested local authority chief executives to be proactive in this area.

Local authorities have delegated sanction to deliver the 1,300 additional acquisitions, subject to those acquisitions being within Acquisition Cost Guidelines issued by the Department. However, my Department will also consider proposals for acquisitions where the cost exceeds the costs set out in the Guidelines.

The associated funding to support the delivery of additional homes through increased social housing acquisitions in 2023 will come from within the Department’s overall capital envelope assigned under the National Development Plan (NDP). Local authority acquisitions will be funded from within the Local Authority Housing budget with AHB acquisitions to be funded from the CALF and CAS budgets. The costs of delivering these acquisitions will be kept under review through 2023. No specific financial allocation has been made to individual local authorities. In relation to maintenance cost, the acquisition of the property will allow a local authority to collect differential rent on a property, which will support increased allocations to the maintenance budget of the local authority.

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 shortly. Data published to date does not include a breakdown of properties acquired where a tenant has received a Notice of Termination due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. For 2023, an amendment is being made to my Department's statistical returns to collect information in this regard.

The allocation of a property acquired by the local authority is a matter for the local authority under its own allocation scheme. The making of a scheme for the allocation of social housing, is a legal function of local authorities under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Local authority schemes set out the order of priority for the allocation of dwellings and schemes will generally include provision for the allocation of dwellings to address homelessness. In this regard, it will also be a matter for a local authority to determine if the acquisition of a property will be appropriate to meet the housing need of a relevant household.