Tenancy sustainment, or tenant-in-situ, is not a stand alone programme or scheme. Rather it is a priority category introduced as part of the my Department's Social Housing Second Hand Acquisitions Programme in 2023.

Tenant in situ acquisitions are an option for local authorities to support households in the most precarious housing situations. Such acquisitions are, and will continue to be, available to local authorities for use as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted. However, they will never be the sole, or even the primary, option. The default first options should almost always be securing the sustainment of the tenancy with the landlord, securing alternative accommodation through the Tenancy Sustainment and Placefinder services, or allocating a local authority or Approved Housing Body tenancy via a new build home or re-let.

Ultimately, the delivery of new additional social homes is the only strategic solution to address long-term homelessness, with allocations from new and existing local authority and AHB social homes the primary means through which social housing qualified households should be accommodated. With the social housing new build programme gathering momentum and providing more social housing, this will allow for a reduced reliance on the Second Hand Acquisitions Programme over the coming years.

The 2026 Programme parameters, including priority category and individual local authority allocations, were notified to local authorities in February. Some €373 million will be available for draw down by local authorities and AHBs under the Programme, with a primary focus on exiting households from homeless accommodation to permanent homes. The funding available is sufficient to support at least 1,000 acquisitions this year.

An initial €16.2 million is available for draw down by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council this year, compared to an initial allocation of €12 million in 2025. Moreover, the multi-annual approach introduced last year will also continue in 2026, allowing Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council commit up to the value of 30% of its 2026 allocation (some €4,860,000) for acquisitions that will complete or drawdown funding in 2027. This will allow priority acquisitions to progress in the closing months of 2026, with certainty on funding in 2027, if such purchases do not complete this year. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council will also have recourse to the contingency fund of €16 million set aside for local authorities that have drawn down most of their initial allocation from the Department and have demonstrated the capacity to complete further acquisitions and draw down funding this year.