Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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693. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there has been an increase in homeless figures since his Department changed the criteria for tenant in situ scheme specifically confirming the number of persons currently homeless in County Wicklow and County Wexford, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64007/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Supporting individuals and families experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness is a priority for my Department and Government.

Increased supply is key to addressing homelessness, meeting need and addressing the challenges in the housing market. Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost rental homes at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. A record level of investment is being provided for the delivery of housing in 2026, with €5.2bn in Exchequer capital funding complemented by investment through the Land Development Agency (LDA) and lending from the Housing Finance Agency (HFA), bringing the total capital funding for housing in 2026 to over €9 billion. This record level of funding is supporting the delivery of social, affordable and cost rental homes. The 2026 capital funding will be supplemented by over €2 billion in current funding to address housing needs.

Over the last three years, my Department has provided funding for second hand acquisitions for a number of priority categories, including tenant-in-situ. Despite some coverage to the contrary, the eligibility criteria for tenant-in-situ acquisitions in 2025 is largely the same as guidance issued in June 2024 and not substantially different to what was required in 2023. The Government committed €325 million to support a second-hand acquisitions programme in 2025 which was apportioned across all 31 local authorities. Funding for the Second Hand Acquisitions Programme for 2026 will be agreed later this year, with individual allocations notified to local authorities as soon possible thereafter.

This substantial financial investment will support 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.

Delivering Homes, Building Communities commits to maintaining a targeted Second Hand Social Housing Acquisitions Programme to support those households in the most precarious housing situations. The programme will support acquisitions for priority categories of need, including exits from long term homelessness, tenancy sustainment, urgent responses for persons with disabilities, for older persons, for care leavers, and Housing First tenancies. In respect of tenancy sustainment the acquisitions programme will continue to act as a necessary last resort policy tool available to local authorities to help prevent individuals or families falling into homelessness.

My Department currently gathers and publishes data on a monthly basis on the number of homeless persons accommodated in emergency accommodation funded and overseen by local authorities. These reports are based on data provided by local authorities, produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS).

While responsibility for the provision of homeless accommodation and related services rests with individual housing authorities, the administration of homeless services is organised on a regional basis with a lead authority in place for each region. County Wicklow is included in the Mid East region with Kildare County Council as the lead authority. County Wexford is included in the South East region for the purposes of homeless administration, with Waterford City and County Council as lead authority.

The monthly homelessness report includes details of individuals, families and the dependants of these families who accessed emergency accommodation during the relevant count week of the month in question. The report also includes the number of adults in emergency accommodation by age band and region. The most recently published data is in respect of September 2025. The reports are collated on a regional basis and are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/ and are also published to the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digialisation's open data portal data.gov.ie/.

My Department also publishes quarterly progress reports which are based on quarterly performance reports submitted by the nine regional lead authorities responsible for the administration of homeless services at local level. These quarterly performance reports include information on presentations to homeless services by single adult and family households who entered emergency accommodation. The most recent published data is in respect of Q3 2025 and is available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/.