Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 November 2025
31. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the tenant-in-situ scheme; the amount of funding which has been allocated to South Dublin county council for the scheme in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65436/25]
View answerTenancy sustainment, or tenant-in-situ, is a priority category under my Department's Second Hand Acquisitions Programme. It is not a scheme, but a policy tool available to local authorities to prevent social housing supported households in the private rented sector from falling into homelessness. It should only be used as a last resort by local authorities when all other options have been exhausted.
Some €25 million has been allocated to South Dublin County Council (SDCC) under Second Hand Acquisitions Programme this year. To date, and with just weeks left to year-end, only €11.6 million has been drawn down by SDCC. The programme has supported 71 acquisitions by SDCC so far this year as follows:
• 67 acquisitions for tenancy sustainment (tenant in situ)
• 4 acquisition for exits from homelessness,
• no acquisition for housing suitable for persons with a disability or the elderly, and
• no acquisitions for buy and renew to tackle vacancy.
I expect the 2026 Second Hand Acquisitions Programme to maintain support for the tenancy sustainment in 2026. Funding allocations will be agreed and notified to local authorities as early as possible next year.
In the meantime, local authorities have been authorised to enter into commitments for 2026 to a value of up to 30% of their original 2025 acquisitions budget. This allows them commit, pending an agreed programme budget for next year, some €95 million extra in 2025 for acquisitions that will complete and draw down in 2026. This flexibility effectively provides for a multi-annual approach to programme delivery, facilitating local authorities to plan and progress acquisitions from one year to the next with a higher level of certainty vis-à-vis future funding availability.
For SDCC, it provides scope to commit €7.5 million for acquisitions that are likely to only complete and drawdown in 2026. This includes acquisitions to support exits from homelessness, tenancy sustainment via tenant in situ, and other priority cohorts such as older persons, persons with disabilities, care leavers, etc.
An additional €5 million was also allocated in September to support acquisitions by SDCC for households, particularly larger families with children, to exit emergency homeless accommodation into housing. While the council has not drawn down any monies from this allocation to date, any funding not drawn down this year will be carried into 2026 and will remain ringfenced from SDCC's broader 2026 Second-Hand Acquisitions Programme allocation.
