Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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298. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to restrict no fault evictions; and the proposals which have been explored by his Department in respect of no fault evictions. [9310/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Government agreed on 7 March 2023 that the ‘Winter Emergency Period’ under the Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Act 2022 would come to an end on 31 March 2023, with deferred tenancy terminations taking effect over a staggered period from 1 April to 18 June 2023 as planned and legislated for under that Act.

The Government at that time considered that extending the emergency period would be detrimental to medium and long-term supply of private rental accommodation. That position has not changed. My Department and local authorities are instead focusing on implementing the additional measures which I announced last March to increase the supply of social and affordable homes. These include:

• an increase in the number of social housing acquisitions to 1,500 in 2023 to reduce the number of households at risk of homelessness;
• an additional 1,000 homes through Targeted Leasing initiatives in 2023 and 2024;
• amending the Capital Advance Leasing Facility used by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) to assist them in their efforts in delivering social homes; and
• developing a Cost Rental Tenant in Situ scheme for tenants at risk of homelessness but not on social housing supports to continue to rent their home.

Ultimately, increasing housing supply across all tenures is the key to preventing homelessness. Housing for All is successfully supporting a significantly increased supply of new homes, with a record 32,695 homes completed in 2023. The Government is making record State investment available for housing, with €5.1 billion in investment available in 2024 o deliver new homes.

Supply continues to improve in our housing market. A range of indicators suggest this:

• The latest annual data on the number of Commencements Notices (residential construction starts) published on 18 January, 2024 show that almost 33,000 (32,801) new homes were commenced in 2023.
• The latest CSO data on planning permissions (7 December) show that nationally, 9,662 dwelling units were granted planning permission in Q3 2023, an increase of 43.3% on Q3 2022 (6,743).
• They also show that residential planning permissions granted for period January to September 2023 are up 13% on the same period last year.