Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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65. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will ensure that the tenant-in-situ and cost-rental tenant-in-situ schemes are a demand-led programme, and that any house that can be purchased by a county council to avoid homelessness is purchased in a timely manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37003/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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 with additional headroom of 50% on the allocation being available under delegated sanction. Acquisitions above this are subject to a sanction request. My Department issued a circular letter to local authorities in March, 2024 and additional guidance in this regard in June.

The Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ (CRTiS) scheme was introduced on 1 April 2023 for tenants in private rental homes who are at risk of homelessness because a landlord has served a valid Notice of Termination due to an intention to sell the property.

The Local Authority conducts the initial assessment for eligibility of the tenant for this scheme and refers potential cases to the Housing Agency, which is responsible for administering and managing the scheme on behalf of my Department, pending further policy development over the longer term, with the intention of transitioning these homes to the standard Cost Rental model over time and to move it to being an Approved Housing Body led scheme.

Data for affordable housing delivery is published on a quarterly basis, similar to social housing delivery. This data is published up to Quarter 1 2024, including CRTiS figures, and is available on my Department's website.