447. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the supports that are available from the Government and State agencies for old age pensioners in vulnerable positions whose mortgages and properties were bought by private equity funds and are now being evicted by such funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51077/26]

The new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030, aims to speed up the delivery of new homes and tackle homelessness. The plan targets the construction of 300,000 homes, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable housing supports by the end of 2030.

The Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost rental homes at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. To achieve this, the largest ever housing budget in the history of the State has been secured in 2026, with in excess of €9 billion in capital funding through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency (LDA) and the Housing Finance Agency (HFA).

Delivering Homes, Building Communities includes measures which will increase delivery of housing for older people through increased delivery of social housing, increased delivery of more suitable homes and choice in private housing and increased choice to support voluntary rightsizing. Government is committed to increasing housing available to older people to facilitate ageing in place with dignity and independence and to supporting rightsizing on a voluntary basis. Delivering Homes, Building Communities also includes a commitment to develop an action plan on delivering housing for older people and this plan is currently under preparation.

Government’s focus is to ensure that where possible, households remain in their homes and I would also encourage borrowers to engage with the Abhaile Service, the national mortgage arrears resolution service, which is available free of charge to the borrower. Abhaile brings together the full range of supports and services required by borrowers in mortgage arrears. A dedicated adviser will work with the borrower and their lender to find the best solution for their particular situation. MABS acts as the gateway for the service and can be contacted by telephoning (076)1072000 or by accessing their website at: www.mabs.ie/abhaile.

The Mortgage to Rent scheme (MTR) offers households in acute, unsustainable mortgage arrears situations, with little or no prospect of a significant change in circumstances, the opportunity to surrender a property to a lender and become a social housing tenant, whilst staying in their own home and community. The households in mortgage arrears must have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable by their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP) and agree to the voluntary surrender of their property. The MTR is a demand led scheme where borrowers must be fully engaged with their lenders in order to progress their application.

The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2026 regulate the landlord-tenant relationship in the residential rental sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Acts protect tenants and landlords of all ages.

The Acts apply to every dwelling that is the subject of a tenancy, subject to a limited number of exceptions. Dwellings covered by the Acts include the private rental sector, the cost rental sector, the approved housing body sector and student specific accommodation.

Significant legislative changes have been introduced over the past number of years to enhance security of tenure for all tenants. From 6 July 2022, the Residential Tenancies Acts have been amended to further enhance tenancy protections, including by providing for tenancies of unlimited duration (after 6 months under tenancy without a valid notice of termination having been served) and the extension of termination notice periods where there has been no breach of obligations.

The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 came into operation on 1 March 2026. The reform of the rental sector provides stronger protections for tenants and encourages investment in the sector through updated rent controls.

In order to provide greater security of tenure for tenants, the Act provides stronger tenant protections by significantly restricting “no fault evictions” for new tenancies. The existing provision for tenancies of unlimited duration is strengthened by the incorporation of rolling 6 year tenancies of minimum duration.

It is also recommended that households engage as early as possible with their local authority regarding their housing needs.