Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that the Tenant In Situ Scheme is a lifeline for families that are at risk of homelessness and gives certainty to landlords who wish to exit the market.

Teachta Crowe said that the failure of the Government to fund the scheme this year shows a startling lack of urgency when it comes to getting the scheme back up and running.

Speaking after the Sinn Féin motion on protecting and ensuring funding for the scheme in the Dáil last night, Teachta Crowe said:

“This government seems to take every opportunity it can to make the housing crisis worse.

“Since April 2023, the social housing tenant-in-situ scheme has saved around 2,500 households from being made homeless.

“Families with children, couples and single people, including pensioners, have been prevented from long stays in emergency accommodation as councils were able to buy their private rental homes.

“Since January, this scheme has been suspended to new applications due to the failure of the outgoing government to agree funding allocations for 2025.

“The new government has shown a startling lack of urgency when it comes to getting the scheme back up and running.

“If this scheme is done away with, this government will have put thousands of renters at serious risk of being made homeless.

“Almost 17 thousand eviction notices were issued to private rental tenants last year, with more than half of those on the grounds of landlords intending to sell the property.

“If we are not going to build social housing on public lands, then we can at least ensure that the tenant in situ scheme prevents renters being thrown out onto the street and into emergency accommodation that the state is already spending hundreds of million on each year.

“The government must properly fund the tenant-in-situ scheme and allow local authorities maximum flexibility on how it is operated.

“This is a vital homeless prevention support that is working and should be allowed to continue as it has for the past two years.”