Kildare families face losing home as support scheme exhausted

Labour TD Mark Wall has raised the alarm in the Dáil over a looming crisis for Kildare families seeking to remain in their homes under the Government’s tenant-in-situ social housing scheme, as funds allocated to Kildare County Council have now been exhausted.

Speaking on the recently announced €325 million for the national second-hand social housing acquisitions programme, Deputy Wall noted that while Kildare received €15 million under the scheme, the county is already running out of money due to current commitments.

Of the total allocation, €14.5 million has been spent on acquiring 84 homes over the past year.

An additional €3.3 million has been committed to the council's buy-and-renew scheme.

“This means all the money allocated is gone with no new money available,” Deputy Wall told the chamber.

“I am dealing with five families who have been told in the past week they will not get a tenant-in-situ property.

"Is the government going to look again at these allocations?” 

Responding to the concerns, Minister for Education Helen McEntee emphasised the scale of investment already being made.

“There is a record €6 billion being invested in all our different housing policies,” she said.

“We are doing everything we can to support not just the development of new homes ... but also to support every person to be able to purchase or to stay in the home they are in.” 

Minister McEntee added that while further extensions of the scheme would require negotiation in the upcoming budget, she would raise Deputy Wall’s concerns with the Minister for Housing directly.