Explainer: What is the tenant-in-situ programme, and why are councils running out of funds?
Councils across the country have been running out of funding for the tenant-in-situ scheme, which is designed to keep tenants who are at risk of eviction in their homes.
Explain the scheme, and what’s behind the funding shortages?
Introduced by the Government in March 2023 as the eviction ban was lifted, the tenant-in-situ scheme enables local authorities and the Housing Agency to buy rental properties where the owner wants to sell up. The tenant then pays rent to either the council or the Housing Agency.
To date, the scheme has allowed the purchase of more than 2,500 homes for this purpose.
Since taking office earlier this year, Housing Minister James Browne has reduced the scope of the programme.
A few months ago, he introduced restrictions for councils looking to buy homes with tenant-in-situ funding. One stipulates that the occupants must have been in receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment or Rental Accommodation Scheme for at least two years. Others de-prioritise single people and couples without children. Funding cuts were also made to the scheme.
National funding for the programme was initially set at €325m for the year, but was topped up by €50m in recent weeks. However, other than a vague Programme for Government promise to continue the scheme, no long-term commitment to funding has been made.
Council chiefs have been told that at least 30pc of 2025 funding for the programme will apply in 2026, but that has left a lot of uncertainty.
Why have many councils paused tenant-in-situ acquisitions?
Councils have already allocated their allotted funding for this year and are waiting for further money from the Government to proceed with new acquisitions.
Three of Dublin’s four local authorities – Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council and Dublin City Council (DCC) – and a number of county councils around the country have paused further acquisitions for the year as a result.
The Department of Housing has disputed that councils have run out of funds, with a spokesperson saying that no local authority had exhausted its individual tenant-in-situ allocations, and only 38pc of the funding allocated to the scheme had been drawn down by the end of last month.
What are politicians saying about it?
Opposition TDs have criticised the Government for the deepening funding row.
Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin said that unless “urgent funding” is found, more families will end up homeless.
Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said the funding situation showed the Government’s housing policy was “creating homelessness”.
“The tenant-in-situ scheme is a genuinely preventative measure that would save these families and children from the trauma of entering into homelessness, and yet the acquisitions made in 2024 were a mere 994 homes,” he said.
“Since then, there has been uncertainty over the future and funding of the scheme, as thousands of renters find themselves in limbo with the threat of eviction hanging over them.”
Labour housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan said 107 tenant-in-situ cases were currently on hold, and only 20 to 25 were expected to be completed this year.
“That means desperate families are wasting time they cannot afford – time they should be spending trying to find a safe place to live,” he said.
DCC unanimously passed a motion in March calling on the Government to reverse the new restrictions and increase the level of funding.
A Department for Housing spokesperson said Mr Browne would be deciding on additional allocations to local authorities under the €50m package “in the coming weeks”.
They said the Government was “committed to continue having second-hand acquisitions as an option”.
How many people are affected by funding delays?
Conservative estimates say at least a few hundred applications are currently on hold.
These are people who have applied to have their homes considered for the tenant-in-situ scheme and whose applications have gone nowhere due to funding constraints.
At least 100 such applications are reported to be delayed in Limerick. Applications for DCC were placed on hold in June. Since then, it has received – but not progressed – at least 126 inquiries.
Galway City Council and Sligo County Council have also paused applications for the scheme, with 47 expressions of interest on file for the former and up to 30 applications eligible once funding becomes available for the latter.