Eviction ban: What measures are proposed to counter homelessness when moratorium ends?

The Government has decided not to extend the current ban on evictions beyond the end of March.

So-called “no fault” evictions were halted at the end of October last year due to the housing shortage and cost-of-living crisis.

They will start to resume on a phased basis from April though some renters will still be protected as late as mid-June depending on the length of their tenancies.

There has been severe Opposition criticism of the decision to end the moratorium given the ongoing housing crisis.

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In announcing the decision the Coalition set out plans for measures aimed at helping renters while also highlighting its efforts to boost housing supply during the months the moratorium was in place and into the future.

However, it will be some time before the measures are in place and the details of some of the plans as yet remain unclear.

The measures include:

• Proposals to change the law to require a landlord selling a property to first offer it to the tenant on an independent valuation basis for sale. Under the ‘first refusal’ plans tenants would be able to access shared equity through the First Home Scheme to help them buy the property. This will need changes to legislation that the Government hopes will be passed by the Oireachtas before the summer recess.
• The development of a “cost rental backstop” where the Government is to work with Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and local authorities to develop a “bespoke” cost-rental model for tenants who don’t qualify for social housing supports – but who are at risk of homelessness – to continue to rent their homes. Essentially AHBs or local authorities would buy the properties and let them out to the existing tenants. It is unclear whether tenants would have to prove they are at risk of homelessness.
• A commitment by Government to bring forward what Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien described as “meaningful measures” for tenants and landlords in the Budget. He did not expand on what these would be. A previous measure to help tenants in last year’s Budget is a €500 per year rent credits. There has been talk of possible tax credits for landlords aimed at encouraging them to stay in the market.
• On efforts to increase housing supply the Government outlined plans to increase the number of social homes purchased this year to 1,500 and to deliver an extra 1,000 homes through a targeted leasing initiative with more than 600 of those to be delivered in 2023.
• Mr O’Brien also said that during the moratorium 1,500 voids or vacant social homes were brought back into use and the pause was also used to bring in an additional 500 emergency beds and 1,500 cold weather beds. He said 5,000 new social housing units were built, 600 were leased, 500 were bought “with tenants in situ in many of them” during the last three months of 2022.

The details of ambitious new plans to limit homelessness in the wake of the decision not to extend the eviction ban “still need to be worked out”, the Green Party’s housing spokesman has said.

In a letter to members, Dublin South West TD Francis Noel Duffy said the Greens had “secured agreement in Cabinet” for “important new protections” for tenants.

In his letter to members, Mr Duffy wrote that “while the exact details of the scheme still need to be worked out, the basic premise of the proposal is that if a landlord seeks to evict a tenant in advance of putting the property on the market for sale, they must first offer to sell the property to the tenant.”

Explaining the scheme earlier to reporters earlier on Thursday, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said the first refusal plans will need legislative change and expressed an ambition to have the measure passed by the Oireachtas before the summer recess.