Written answers
Monday, 9 September 2024
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Departmental Schemes
Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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793.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there are any imminent or recently issued revised guidelines for local authorities and AHBs with respect to the social and cost rental tenant-in-situ scheme.[34212/24]
Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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).
Social Housing is delivered through a range of local authority and Approved Housing Body (AHB) delivery programmes across the build, acquisition and leasing delivery streams.
For 2023 and 2024, the Government agreed that there would be increased provision for social housing acquisitions and my Department provided funding for local authorities to acquire at least 1,500 social homes per annum. The additional acquisitions have primarily focused on properties where a tenant is in receipt of social housing supports and has received a Notice of Termination due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. My Department issued a circular in March 2023, setting out details of these arrangements.
Each local authority has been provided with a provisional allocation for social housing acquisitions in 2024. An increase of 50%, in addition to this initial allocation, has been applied to enable local authorities to acquire homes within these parameters under delegated sanction. Acquisitions above this increased amount are subject to a sanction request. Additional guidance in this regard issued to local authorities in June.
The Government has developed the Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ (CRTiS) scheme for tenants in private rental homes who are at risk of homelessness because a landlord intends to sell the property but who are not in receipt of social housing supports. The scheme was established on a temporary administrative basis from 1 April 2023 and is managed by the Housing Agency, pending further policy development over the longer term, with the intention of transitioning these tenants and homes to the standard Cost Rental model. I am informed that the Housing Agency are engaging with more than 190 landlords across all Local Authority areas, with a view to the purchase of those homes. No additional guidance has been issued in relation to CRTiS.
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