Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 February 2024
342. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline the situation with respect to local authorities or the Housing Agency purchasing homes for tenants who have received eviction notices but where property management fees remain associated with the property in question; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7500/24]
View answerUnder Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes and 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing in the period 2022-2026. Our clear focus is to increase the stock of social housing through new build projects delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs).
Social Housing is delivered through a range of local authority and Approved Housing Body (AHB) delivery programmes across the build, acquisition and lease delivery streams.
For 2023, Government agreed an increased provision for social housing acquisitions and my Department provided funding local authorities to acquire at least 1,500 social homes. The additional acquisitions have focused particularly on properties where a tenant is in receipt of social housing supports and has received a Notice of Termination due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. My Department issued a circular letter in March 2023, setting out details of these arrangements and each local authority was provided with a provisional allocation for social housing acquisitions in 2023.
Local authorities have delegated sanction in relation to these acquisitions, subject to those acquisitions being within Acquisition Cost Guidelines issued by the Department. An independent valuation must also be obtained for each acquisition, in line with established practice for local authorities for social housing acquisitions. The current Acquisition Cost Guidelines (ACGs) were updated and issued to local authorities in April 2023. These guidelines are reviewed and updated as appropriate by my Department usually on an annual basis.
Local authorities will work with all social housing supported tenants who receive a Notice of Termination and offer the available supports, which may include a tenant in situ acquisition or support to obtain an alternative tenancy, including a HAP-supported tenancy or an allocation to local authority stock. It is a matter for individual local authorities to identify suitable acquisitions in line with local circumstances and their social housing allocations policy.
The Government has developed the Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ (CRTiS) scheme for tenants in private rental homes who are at risk of homelessness because a landlord intends to sell the property but who are not in receipt of social housing supports. The scheme was established on a temporary administrative basis from 1 April 2023 and is managed by the Housing Agency, pending further policy development over the longer term, with the intention of transitioning these tenants and homes to the standard Cost Rental model. I am informed that the Housing Agency are engaging with more than 130 landlords across all Local Authority areas, with a view to the purchase of those homes.
My Department does not hold data relating to the purchase of properties where maintenance fees are in operation, further information may be available from individual local authorities or through the Approved Housing Body Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) which is an independent regulatory authority. However, arrangements have been put in place by all bodies under the aegis of my Department to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. This provides a speedy, efficient and cost-effective system to address queries directly to the relevant bodies. The contact email address for AHBRA is: oireachtasqueries@ahbregulator.ie.
My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social and affordable housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority, including completed acquisitions. From 2023, this data includes a breakdown of acquisitions completed by each local authority where a Notice of Termination issued to a tenant and is available, for all local authorities, to the end of Quarter 3 2023 on the statistics page of my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision.
