Government Slashes Tenant in Situ Scheme as Homelessness Soars

Conor Sheehan

23 February 2026

Government Slashes Tenant in Situ Scheme as Homelessness Soars - The Labour Party

• New parliamentary question confirms funding cuts and sharp decline in Tenant in Situ acquisitions

Labour housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD has called on the Minister for Housing to urgently reverse restrictions imposed on the Tenant in Situ scheme, after new parliamentary question replies confirmed a sharp fall in spending and acquisitions under the scheme in 2025.
Deputy Sheehan said the figures show the changes were driven by cost saving measures that have directly weakened one of the State’s most effective homelessness prevention tools, and he urged the Minister to issue a revised and less restrictive circular to ensure the scheme is properly funded in 2026.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“The figures do not lie. It is very clear that Government changes and restrictions to second hand acquisitions through the Tenant in Situ scheme were introduced primarily to save money. As a direct result, we have seen a significant decline in total spend on second hand acquisitions and a sharp drop in the number of homes acquired. This was not reform. It was a funding cut dressed up as policy change.
“The restrictions introduced in 2025 are delaying and preventing local authorities from acquiring enough properties to stop people from entering homelessness. In December 2024, 46.3 per cent of all homelessness prevention nationally came through the Tenant in Situ scheme. By December 2025, that figure had collapsed to just 11 per cent. That is not a marginal adjustment. That is a dramatic scaling back of a scheme that kept thousands of people in their homes.
“We know that keeping someone in their home is the most effective way to prevent homelessness. Every housing expert accepts this. Yet at the same time as Government has introduced radical changes to rent setting through the RTB Amendment Bill, and at a time when rents continue to rise and the number of people entering homelessness grows month after month, the Minister has chosen to restrict one of the few tools local authorities had to intervene.
“Many local authorities effectively ran out of funding halfway through 2025. Councils were left unable to act when landlords sought to sell properties with sitting tenants at risk. Families who could have been protected instead faced the trauma of uncertainty or homelessness. This was avoidable. It flowed directly from a decision to cap funding and tighten criteria.
“The Minister claims he does not want local authorities relying on this scheme. The reality is that councils rely on it because their housing targets are too low and because many of them do not have another immediate mechanism to prevent people entering homelessness. When new build delivery lags and social housing targets fall short, Tenant in Situ becomes a vital safety net. Removing that safety net does not reduce need. It simply increases homelessness.
“The previous system allowed funding to respond to real demand rather than an arbitrary cap. The Minister must now reverse course, restore flexibility, and ensure that local authorities receive the resources required to protect tenants at risk. Signalling further cuts or tighter restrictions at a time when homelessness figures continue to rise is frightening and deeply irresponsible.
“Government must issue a revised and less restrictive circular immediately and guarantee that the Tenant in Situ scheme is adequately funded for 2026. If Ministers are serious about tackling homelessness, they must expand the tools that work, not dismantle them. Families facing eviction cannot wait for excuses. They need action, and they need it now.”

ENDS

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage the total amount allocated to each local authority for tenant-in-situ in 2024 and 2025; the total amount spent by each local authority, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

REPLY

The funding drawndown by local authorities under my Department’s Social Housing Second Hand Acquisition Programme in 2024 and 2025, including for Tenancy Sustainment or Tenant in Situ acquisitions, is set out in the table below.

My Department did not issue funding allocations to local authorities in 2024.  Rather each local authority was provided with a number of acquisitions that could be supported through the Programme.

The expenditure covers all areas of activity, including the purchase price, the legal and professional fees to transact the sale, and necessary refurbishment works required to the property.

Expenditure in a year can include costs related to dwellings acquired by local authorities and AHBs in previous years.

An additional €50 million was provided to eight local authorities in September 2025 to support acquisitions in 2025/2026 for those households, particularly larger families with children, longest in emergency homeless accommodation.

This funding was largely unspent in 2025 and has been carried over for ‘exits from homeless’ acquisitions completing in this year.