1896. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to clarify the guidelines for local authorities to acquire properties outside of the tenant-in-situ scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61139/26]

My Department is committed to providing record levels of new social homes. A range of delivery streams are available to local authorities and approved housing bodies (AHBs) to help secure an appropriate mix and quantum of social homes to meet current and future demand, and which can help to maximise the use of their respective in-house resources and land capacity for social housing.

Complementing local authority and AHB’s own-build programmes funded via my Department’s Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) and Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS), local authorities and AHBs can also acquire properties for social housing through a range of delivery streams. These include:

Second Hand Acquisitions: The Second-Hand Acquisitions Programme is available to local authorities to support households in the most challenging and precarious housing situations, helping prevent them falling into homelessness and supporting those in homelessness to exit into permanent housing. It is intended for use where no other suitable housing solution is available.

Tenancy sustainment (via tenant-in-situ acquisitions) is not a separate scheme but form a priority category within the Second-Hand Acquisitions Programme. The programme's priority categories are:

• Exiting households from homeless services;

• Persons with disabilities, older persons and care leavers requiring urgent housing responses; and

• Tenancy sustainment (via tenant-in-situ).

Local authorities have delegated sanction to approve and progress individual acquisitions within these priority categories, without seeking Departmental approval, provided the acquisitions comply with the scheme’s criteria and parameters.

The guidelines and operational arrangements for the 2026 Social Housing Second-Hand Acquisitions Programme, including local authority allocations for priority categories, were issued to all local authorities by my Department in Circular 07/2026, ‘Arrangements for Social Housing Second-Hand Acquisitions in 2026’, in February 2026.

Turnkey: Under a Turnkey arrangement, a developer is engaged by a local authority or approved housing body to deliver social housing via an appropriate procurement route, based on an assessment of suitable proposals which meet established housing needs, and are purchased upon completion.

The relevant local authority or AHB must be satisfied that a prospective turnkey purchase will not remove housing from the market that would otherwise be available to private purchasers, particularly first-time buyers.

The arrangements and requirements governing the provision of social housing through turnkey projects are set out in my Department’s Circular 31/2019, ‘Arrangements for the Provision by local authorities of Social Housing through Turnkey Projects’.

Buy & Renew: The Buy and Renew Scheme is a social housing scheme that enables local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to purchase vacant, under-utilised, or derelict residential properties, refurbish them, and bring them back into use as social housing.

The guidelines for the modified and expanded Buy and Renew scheme were issued to all local authorities by my Department in Circular 19/2026, ‘Arrangements for the Provision of Social Housing through the Modification and Expansion of the Buy and Renew Scheme’, in April 2026.

Part V: A Part V Acquisition occurs when a local authority acquires the homes, apartments, or land provided by a developer to meet their Part V obligations. This involves a Part V agreement between the relevant local authority and developer. It is a legal requirement for specified new housing developments. These properties then become part of the local authority's social housing stock.

Circular 14/2025, ‘Revised Arrangements in Respect of Capital Funding for Local Authority Part V Acquisitions’, outlines updated funding arrangements for local authorities acquiring new-build homes under Part V agreements.

Guidance on the preparation and execution of Part V agreements is available in Circular 5/2017, ‘Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 – Guidelines January 2017’, and on the Housing Agency website.

Local authorities have delegated sanction to progress Part V agreements without seeking Departmental approval, provided the acquisitions comply with the schemes criteria and parameters.