Fingal gets funding to keep anti-homelessness scheme moving

The Department of Housing has allocated some funding to Fingal County Council to keep its anti-homelessness tenant-in-situ scheme moving, according to Paul Carroll, director of services in Fingal’s Housing and Community Department.

Under the scheme tenant-in-situ scheme, a council can buy private rentals and convert them into social homes if a landlord is about to evict a household, and that household qualifies for social housing.

Fingal was given a funding allocation of €20 million by the Department for all of its second-hand acquisitions in 2025, according to a letter sent to councillors from the office of the Minister of Housing, James Browne, on 15 July.

That allocation angered councillors as it was just over half of the €39.9 that Fingal spent in 2024 on buying up homes through the scheme.

“I just cannot get over that they didn’t maintain the same level of funding at a minimum, because it’s a bloody great scheme,” said Fine Gael Councillor Tom O’Leary in April of this year.

In a written question at Monday’s monthly meeting of Fingal County Council, Labour Councillor James Humphreys asked “the Chief Executive to confirm if Fingal County Council’s 2025 Tenant-in Situ budget is now fully exhausted”.

Currently, the council is projected to acquire 60 homes under the programme based on its allotted €20m for this year, Carroll replied in writing. 

And the council “recently received confirmation from the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage that an additional €6m is being made available to support second hand acquisitions in 2026”, including under the tenant-in-situ scheme, he wrote. 

“This additional funding is intended to facilitate the commencement of the acquisitions process for targeted acquisitions during this year [...],” he wrote, “to be closed in 2026.”

Speaking at the full council meeting on Monday, Caroll said however that this funding for next year hasn’t been assigned yet, as the council only received notification of it last week.

The council is currently in the process of confirming the exact requirements that the Department has imposed on this funding and when exactly it can be drawn down, he said.

But, the council understands that it will be for a rollover of the scheme into purchases that will close next year across all three of the second-hand acquisition schemes: tenant-in-situ, capital assistance, and buy and renew.