Families at risk of homelessness may have another chance to avail of a scheme where the State buys the home they are renting from their landlord.
The tenant-in-situ scheme allows local authorities to buy properties where the tenants are facing eviction because the landlord is selling.
It applies to tenants who have received a notice of termination, are deemed at risk of homelessness and who qualify for social housing support such as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) or the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS).
New restrictions were applied to the scheme this year, and several local authorities had to pause applications because they had exhausted their budget by the middle of the year.
RM Block
This meant many families who would have been eligible for the scheme could not avail of it this year.
However, Minister for Housing James Browne has now written to all local authorities telling them they can now proceed with more acquisitions up to a value of 30 per cent of their original 2025 budget.
“All Local Authorities have been approved to enter into commitments for 2026 to a value of up to 30 per cent of their original 2025 acquisitions budget, allowing priority acquisitions to continue in the closing months of 2025, with certainty on funding availability in 2026 should such purchases not complete this year,” a spokesman for the Department of Housing said.
On September 12th, Dublin City Council’s (DCC) housing department wrote to its councillors informing them of the Department’s announcement.
It said its 2025 allocation of €85 million for housing acquisitions had been “fully utilised”.
“However, in recognition of the lead time to acquire a property, the DHLGH has advised DCC that there is sanction to commence acquisitions now up to the value of €28.5m, which represents a minimum level of funding for 2026, as it is likely that such acquisitions will not close until Q1 2026,” the council said.
It outlined the steps tenants must take to be eligible for the scheme, and said priority would be given to families with children, particularly those in a 3 bed home or with a disability, who are “at serious risk of homelessness and where alternatives are in short supply”.
“The Local Authority must certify that all the criteria of the scheme have been met and that all alternatives have been exhausted and is in a priority category prior to a referral to the acquisitions team,” the note to councillors said.
Responding to the development, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said that “while this is nowhere near enough, it may provide some families with an option to prevent them from falling into homelessness”.
“It is incumbent on Local Authorities, particularly in the large urban areas, to make clear how families at imminent risk of homelessness can avail of the tenant-in-situ scheme, include those families whose tenant-in-situ applications were closed due to a lack of funding earlier this year,” Mr O’Broin said.
