Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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244. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to confirm that local authorities are now in a position to allocate funding for the tenant-in-situ scheme, as previously stated (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22097/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is providing continuing and substantial financial support to local authorities to acquire second-hand properties for priority categories of need including tenants-in-situ who have been in receipt of supports under HAP or RAS and who had received a Notice of Termination.

The other priority categories for second-hand acquisitions are properties that allow persons/families to exit homelessness; one-bedroom properties to deliver on Housing First targets; specific housing required for people with a disability or the elderly and vacant properties under the Buy & Renew scheme.

The €325 million allocation I announced on the 31 March 2025 has been made available to our local authorities for their social housing second-hand acquisitions activity in 2025, with individual allocations for the local authorities being notified to them on 1 April 2025. This is part of almost €2 billion in total which is supporting local authorities and approved housing bodies to deliver new social homes in 2025. Our main emphasis remains on constructing new homes and that unquestionably, is the correct approach.

I have asked our local authorities to use the full range of options for tenants-in-situ who have received a Notice of Termination and acquiring the landlord’s property is one option, but is not the sole option. In some cases, local authorities might use the thousands of new social allocations that they make each and every year, to provide a new tenancy for the families they are supporting. These and casual vacancies are a valuable option given the record numbers of new social homes delivered over recent years. Local authorities might also use their Tenancy Sustainment officers to work with tenants and landlords on options to sustain tenancies.