Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 February 2026
405. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether a formal policy decision was taken in 2025 to reduce or limit the use of tenant-in-situ acquisitions under the Second-Hand Acquisitions Programme; if so, the date of that decision; whether Cabinet approval was sought; and the policy rationale underpinning the change [13854/26]
View answer406. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total capital allocation provided for tenant-in-situ acquisitions in each of the years 2023, 2024 and 2025; the originally approved allocation for 2026; whether any revised spending ceiling has been issued to local authorities for 2025 or 2026, by local authority. [13855/26]
View answer409. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether any circular, directive or written guidance was issued to local authorities in 2025 limiting, prioritising or redefining the criteria for tenant-in-situ acquisitions; and if so, if he will provide a copy of that guidance. [13858/26]
View answer412. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the Government intends to continue the tenant-in-situ approach as a core homelessness prevention measure in 2026; and if so, what target number of acquisitions has been set [13861/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 405, 406, 409 and 412 together.
A tenancy sustainment, or tenant-in-situ, acquisition is and will continue to be an emergency measure only, available to local authorities for use as a last resort, when all other options have been exhausted.
The Programme for Government commits to continuing support for tenancy sustainment acquisitions as an option for local authorities to support households in the most precarious housing situations. However, they will never be the sole option, and the default first option should almost always be the retention of the tenancy where possible, an alternative private rented tenancy or the tenancy of a local authority or Approved Housing Body social home.
The parameters of the 2026 Programme and individual allocations will be notified to local authorities in the coming weeks.
That said, some €50 million allocated in 2025 for acquisitions in 2025 and 2026 has been carried over into 2026 for exit from homelessness acquisitions. A further €100 million will be ring-fenced from the baseline 2026 allocation for such acquisitions in line with commitments in the new National Housing Plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. My Department does not provide acquisition targets. Rather, a funding allocation is provided, within which emergency situations can be addressed and funded.
More than adequate funding was available under the 2025 programme to complete any acquisitions needed to respond to urgent cases. Some €325 million was allocated initially in 2025 and local authorities had sole discretion vis-à-vis the scale of acquisitions progressed under any of the Programme's four priority categories. No policy decision was taken to limit acquisitions under any category.
Notably, local authorities only recouped €290 million of the initial €325 million made available. Moreover, at end-January 2026, local authorities had committed less than half of the €95 million available to them to commit in 2025 for acquisitions completing in 2026.
Financial allocations were not provided to local authorities in 2023 and 2024. Rather, each local authority was authorised to complete a specific number of acquisitions within the overall scope available under the Programme of 1,500 homes in each year. A different approach was taken in 2025. A financial allocation rather than a 'unit allocation was provided to each individual local authority to support acquisitions across the priority categories as deemed appropriate.
Mandatory eligibility criteria were also introduced in 2025 for tenancy sustainment acquisitions to ensure the funding could be targeted as much as possible. Among other things, the range of eligible expenditure was tightened, with refurbishment costs effectively no longer permitted as an eligible recoverable cost for such acquisitions from early 2025.
Local authorities are only required to undertake works on homes to comply with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. If refurbishment works are required, local authorities have delegated sanction to draw on their respective Internal Capital Receipts (generated largely from the sale of local authority housing) for such works. They can also utilise my Department’s other planned maintenance programmes to support these works. Guidance was provided to local authorities on the 2025 Programme parameters early last year and this guidance can be provided directly upon request.
Expenditure recouped to local authorities and the number of units supported under the Second Hand Acquisitions Programme in 2023, 2024 and 2025 is set out in the table below.
|
Year |
Total No. of Units |
Total Amount recouped to Local Authorities |
|
2023 |
1,830 |
€417m |
|
2024 |
1,501 |
€520m |
|
2025 |
775 |
€290m* |
*Q4 2025 data are currently being validated. Finalised local authority acquisition numbers and the costs recouped will be published in due course.
