Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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58. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps he is taking to halt and reverse the rise in homelessness. [37052/24]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I will continue the conversation about the tenant in situ scheme because the information both the Minster and Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, have presented is not the same as the information given to local authorities in the circular of June this year. There is a cap - it is 50% above the targets that have been set for local authorities. Anything above the 50% cap must be submitted individually to the Department for sanction and that currently takes months. There are also other restrictions in the circular which local authorities and approved housing bodies are expressing concern about.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Which ones?

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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For example, they tell us that the first instance focus on prevention and the requirement that all other options have to be exhausted will create further delays.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Deputy will get a chance to come back in.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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This is hugely restrictive and it is a change.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The principle of the purchase of homes of tenants in situ is one that everybody in the House supports.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Absolutely.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Last year, we bought 1,830 homes. The original target had been 200. It was reset to 1,500 and we increased it further. Deputy Troy, the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, and I met the chief executive of Westmeath County Council yesterday. For clarification, so that everyone is clear on this, there is no ceiling on the number of homes a local authority can purchase under the scheme this year. We have the capital in place to support that. I want to be clear on that. I met the local authorities and wrote to them on 4 or 5 July. That letter is available and I will forward it to people.

What the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, spoke about was that where a property is valued at, say, €700,000 and that is more than 50% above the acquisition ceiling set on valuation, that will require sanction from the Department. What Deputy Troy asked about was a circumstance where, for argument's sake, Westmeath County Council was set a target of 50 homes to purchase and it purchased 50 homes and had five more. The council would not have to seek sanction from the Department for that. It can keep going and purchase those homes. I have been very clear with the local authorities in that regard.

I am glad this issue is being discussed because I have received complaints and feedback from Deputies across the country that the scheme was operating very well in some areas and not so well in other areas. We need to keep a watch on that all of the time.

We have sorted the transboundary issue. Previously, there was an issue where a tenant was on one local authority list but living in another local authority area. We have also rectified the issue of under- or over-occupancy such as where two people are living in a three-bedroom home. When this scheme started some local authorities stated they would not purchase such a home. I told them to purchase it and secure the home and tenancy on the basis that the family in question may move to more appropriate accommodation in time. There is no ceiling on the capital allocated to the scheme this year. I want to be very clear with people on that.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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What the Minister is saying is not the same as what is in the circular given to local authorities. For the sake of clarity, if a local authority has a target of 50 units, it can have a pipeline of 75 units without going back to the Department.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is stated in the circular. Every single property beyond those 75 units, no matter what it costs, has to go to the Department for individual sanction. That is what the circular says. That will take time and is causing problems.

Second, the Minister introduced a new and much more restrictive set of criteria. One criterion is that all other options have to be exhausted before the tenant in situ scheme can commence. That will cause significant delays. The Minister has also imposed a CAS-only purchase option on approved housing bodies. Approved housing bodies want to use the capital amounts loan facility. It is much more cost-effective and efficient for the tenant in situ scheme. The Minister is prohibiting that.

We already have a situation where there is enormous delay in the process. Introducing all these other layers of delay will mean landlords will walk away. It currently takes six to 12 months to get a tenant in situ through all stages, including conveyancing, in my local authority area. As regards the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme, the fact the Minister is only introducing legislation a year and a half after the scheme was opened shows that this element is even worse than it was six months ago.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The cost-rental tenant in situ scheme is working very well and has been set up on an administrative basis.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It does not exist.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I did not interrupt the Deputy once. I ask him to let me answer. The cost-rental tenant in situ scheme does exist. It is administered by the Housing Agency and we have purchased more than 200 homes in that space already.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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None of those-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, please.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Let me answer the question.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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None of those are paying cost rents.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is in bad form today. I do not know why.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The Housing Agency has not been able to sell any homes to approved housing bodies. Will the Minister explain that?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Please, Deputy. The time is running out and other Deputies want to come in.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I will attempt to answer the question because I respect Members when they ask questions. They might respect that I always speak through the Chair.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputies should speak through the Chair. Time is running out.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I always speak through the Chair. Very clearly, with regard to exhausting other options that are available, if a tenant receives a notice to quit, there may be other options available and those should be looked at. It could be a social housing allocation, which happens in many instances. So far this year, 4,210 adult preventions and exits have been achieved.

I want to talk about allocations. In quarters 1 and 2 of this year, 947 households exited emergency accommodation. This was the Deputy's original question. That is an increase of 27%. If I am a tenant on HAP and receive a notice to quit, unquestionably, other options have to be looked at. Local authorities do not have to come back for additional sanction with regard to the purchase of homes above that target. It could not be clearer. I wrote to local authorities on this and I meet them regularly.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The circular states that for acquisitions above the local authority allocation, plus 50%, advance approval will be needed to be obtained from the Department. That is in flat contradiction to what the Minister said.

The cost-rental tenant in situ scheme was meant to be that the Housing Agency would purchase the property, sell it to an approved housing body and the rent would be reduced to a cost rent. The last time I checked in with the Minister and the Housing Agency, not a single property had been sold on to an approved housing body and not a single tenant had their rent reduced to a cost rent. All that has happened is the Housing Agency has bought those properties. That is good for the people who are at risk of homelessness.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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It is very good.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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However, they are not cost-rental tenancies. First, the Minister is restricting and causing further delays to tenants in situ for social housing. One year and a half in, the Minister is essentially admitting he got it wrong with the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme and is now trying to scramble to introduce amending legislation. What he has said is different from what is in the circular. Will he ask the Secretary General to issue a new circular in line with what he said, not what was issued to local authorities earlier this year?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Before the Minister responds, there are supplementary questions.

Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent)
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With regard to the tenant in situ scheme, my experience with Clare County Council is that for most properties that are eligible, the council tells me that the homeowner is looking for more than the market value and so the council has not been very successful in this. This relates to a number of properties in County Clare.

I will address a different aspect of the conversation. We have hidden homelessness in this country. We are missing legislation to recognise that and it causes issues for those who are in overcrowded housing. Clare County Council tells me it will not prioritise those people because they have a roof over their heads. There have been 35 exits in Clare in two months but only in 11 of those cases did the person receive secure housing, while the rest were self-discharges, hospital admissions, etc. I had meetings with the chief executive and senior management of Clare County Council during the summer and they indicated there is a dire need for increases in current expenditure. At the moment, the expenditure is standing still and this will not allow the council to improve standards or increase capacity.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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With regard to homelessness, there is a significant problem with vacant social homes being left empty for more that a year by some local authorities. The NOAC report that was just published shows that in the Galway City Council area it takes an average of 50 weeks to re-let an empty social home. In Limerick social homes are being left empty for more than a year. It is 62 weeks before they are being re-let. This is a real slap in the face for the more than 14,000 people living in homeless emergency accommodation. Why has the Minister not tackled this during his term of office and what will he do to tackle it?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Wynne asked about capital and the provision of funding to local authorities to continue the e tenant in situ scheme. That is in place. Deputy Ó Broin referred to a June circular. I wrote to the local authorities after that - in July last. I have said this in the House on a number of occasions and have engaged directly, as I do, with the chief executives and directors of services in all of our 31 local authorities. They are very clear that this scheme is proceeding and continuing. I want the local authorities to continue to exceed the base target of 1,500 homes we have set.

I want more than that to be purchased. If we can do that we absolutely will.

In relation to vacancy and voids, we have brought approximately 8,500 voids back in. It is true to say that some local authorities have performed better than others in relation to re-tenanting. Sometimes regarding to re-tenanting, extensive works may be required on that home to get it back out, but I do not want to see homes being vacant for 40 weeks while that work is being done. I regularly engage with the local authorities, which are the housing authorities in their own areas and are responsible for that. We provide the funding to get those homes back into use. There can be reasons specific homes are vacant, such as if a house has to be adapted, or if it is in really bad shape and requires more work, but that is not what we want to see.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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If it is on average a year with local authorities, it is all their stock.