Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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83. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is proposing to increase the social housing income eligibility thresholds, and the problem of people being removed from the list after many years waiting due to their income going slightly over the threshold, and that when people who do go over these thresholds, they are no longer eligible for any housing support, regardless of the amount over the threshold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37002/24]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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100. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the income eligibility limits for social housing will be improved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36930/24]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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111. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the income eligibility limits for social housing in Cavan and Monaghan will be increased, given they are too low at present and are denying persons, who have not adequate income to buy or build their own home, the opportunity to obtain council housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36929/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 83, 100 and 111 together.

Housing for All includes a commitment to review income eligibility for social housing. From this review, completed in November 2021, it was recommended moving five local authorities from Band 3 to Band 2, ensuring the income eligibility thresholds better reflect housing costs in those counties. Government also agreed to increase the baseline income thresholds by €5,000 for all local authorities with effect from 1 January 2023. The thresholds thus increased to €40,000, €35,000 and €30,000 for bands 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

The review further recommended the commissioning of research to develop options for a revised or new social housing income eligibility model. My Department received this detailed research, commissioned by the Housing Agency. The scope of the research included examining the existing income limits in the context of current market and population conditions and the suitability or otherwise of the current framework having regard to the significantly changed landscape since the standardised income limits were introduced.

My Department is now undertaking a detailed examination of the report, in order to develop a new social housing income eligibility model in line with the Housing for All Action Plan update. This detailed examination will include consultation with stakeholders and will look at, inter alia, how the social housing income limits system interacts with other housing supports and ensure that they continue to target households correctly.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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84. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the average length of time it is taking to process a tenant-in-situ application; the number of tenant-in-situ applications per local authority heretofore; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36487/24]

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).

For 2023 the Government agreed that there would be increased provision for social housing acquisitions. This has continued into 2024 and my Department will fund local authorities to acquire up to 1,500 social homes this year. The additional acquisitions are 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.

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.

It is a matter for individual local authorities to identify suitable acquisitions in line with local circumstances and their social housing allocations policy. The time required to complete a social housing acquisition can vary, depending on the circumstances involved. Individual property purchases can be delayed for various reasons such as title difficulties, planning issues, outstanding property taxes, general contractual conditions of sale not in place etc. The process is also reliant on timely progress from the vendor’s legal and sales agents, so timeframes vary from purchase to purchase. My Department does not hold data on the timelines for such acquisitions nor does it hold data on the number of social housing acquisitions expression of interest applications that have been submitted to each local authority. This information, and the details for requesting a review on decisions made, may be available from individual local authorities.

Local authorities take appropriate steps to ensure that their first response will be to support households to try to prevent homelessness in cases where tenants have been served with a notice of termination by their landlord. It is important to acknowledge that the Tenant in Situ scheme has been a key measure in preventing homelessness and as such has mitigated such impacts for many households.

My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social and affordable housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority, including completed acquisitions. From 2023, this data includes a breakdown of acquisitions completed by each local authority where a Notice of Termination issued to a tenant and is available, for all local authorities, to the end of Quarter 1 2024 on the statistics page of my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/.