The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is operated and administered directly by each local authority. Where a RAS tenancy ends through no fault of the tenant, the local authority is, and remains, responsible for finding an alternative housing solution.
Local authorities work with RAS tenants who receive a valid Notice of Termination and offer available supports, which may include support to obtain an alternative tenancy (including a HAP or RAS supported tenancy) or a tenancy in a local authority or approved housing body social home. These arrangements operate under existing policy and administrative frameworks, which are reviewed and updated by my department from time-to-time as appropriate.
Local authorities have delegated sanction to pursue individual priority acquisitions without recourse to my department, where these acquisitions are in line with the broad parameters and criteria of the Second Hand Acquisitions Programme. A decision to progress an acquisition or otherwise, including an acquisition to help prevent social housing households become homeless, is solely a matter for the relevant local authority having regard to the local circumstances and the availability or otherwise of more suitable options, including the allocation of a local authority or an approved housing body social home.
I expect the parameters of the 2026 Second Hand Acquisitions Programme to be notified to individual local authorities in Q1 this year. In the interim, local authorities have been authorised to enter into commitments for 2026 up to a value of 30% of their original 2025 acquisitions budget. This flexibility effectively provides for a multi-annual approach to programme delivery, facilitating local authorities to plan and progress acquisitions between annual programmes, and from one year to the next, with a higher level of certainty vis-à-vis future funding availability.
Data on the number of RAS tenancies where tenant-in-situ was pursued or completed, and the average timeframe between receipt of a valid Notice of Termination and the provision of alternative accommodation or support, should be sought directly from local authorities. My department does not collect these data.
Programme-level statistics for social housing delivery, including for social housing acquisitions, are published on my department's website. Data are currently available to end Q3 2025. Q4 2025 data are currently being compiled and validated and will published in due course.
