Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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300. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of properties purchased by Clare County Council under tenant-in-situ or other acquisition schemes in west Clare, including Kilkee, in the past two years; and whether additional funding will be provided to increase such acquisitions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23179/26]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Tenancy sustainment, or tenant-in-situ, is not a stand alone programme or scheme. Rather it is a priority category introduced as part of the my department's Social Housing Second Hand Acquisitions Programme in 2023. Tenant in situ acquisitions are an option for local authorities to support households in the most precarious housing situations. They are, and will continue to be, available to local authorities for use as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted.

That said, such acquisitions will never be the sole, or even the primary, option. The default first options should almost always be securing the sustainment of the tenancy with the landlord, securing alternative accommodation through the Tenancy Sustainment and Placefinder services, or allocating a local authority or Approved Housing Body tenancy via a new build home or a re-let.

My department's Second Hand Acquisition Programme has supported 13 acquisitions by in Clare in the last two years, with eight homes acquired to sustain a social housing supported tenancy in the private rented sector.

The parameters of the 2026 Social Housing Second Hand Acquisitions Programme, including priority category and individual local authority allocations, were notified to local authorities in February. Some €373 million will be available for draw down by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies under the 2026 programme, with a primary focus on exiting households from homeless accommodation to permanent homes.

Among other things, individual local authority allocations were determined having regard to the number of families with children in homeless accommodation for extended periods of time. They also had regard to the level of funding drawn down by local authorities from my department specifically for property purchase costs in 2025.

An initial allocation of €1.7 million has been provided to Clare County Council this year. The multi-annual approach introduced last year will also continue in 2026, allowing Clare County Council to commit up to the value of 30% of its 2026 allocation (some €510,000) for acquisitions that will complete or drawdown funding in 2027. This will allow priority acquisitions to progress in the closing months of 2026, with certainty on funding in 2027, if such purchases do not complete this year. Moreover, Clare County Council will also have recourse to the contingency fund of €16 million set aside for local authorities that have drawn down most of their initial allocation from the Department and have demonstrated the capacity to complete further acquisitions and draw down funding this year.

Notably, Clare County Council recouped less than half of the €4 million available to the council under the programme last year, with only €1.2 million drawn down in respect of purchase costs.

I am satisfied, with €373 million available for draw down under the programme this year, that there is more than adequate funding in the programme for all urgent acquisitions that can be progressed, completed and drawn down by local authorities in 2026. Critically, in this regard, local authorities only recouped €290 million of the initial €325 million made available through the programme in 2025.