No extra funding for local homeless families despite €50-million announced this week - SF Cllrs

‘Homelessness will continue to rise as Government confirms no extra funding for tenant-in-situ scheme’ says Tipperary Sinn Fein Councillors Annemarie Ryan and David Dunne.

Tipperary SF Councillors also said that the 50 million will not benefit any of the 12 families or the 34 single people currently stuck in emergency B&B homeless accommodation across County Tipperary.

Cllr Ryan said: "This funding is only for eight city/county councils, excluding Tipperary, which is under enormous pressure to accommodate the rising number of people presenting as homeless.

"We have people contacting us daily who are homeless, couch surfing, sleeping in cars, or have had to move back into their parents’ home, what hope have they got of finding a place of their own?"

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Cllr David Dunne reports that this new funding can only be used for vacant acquisitions for large families and single people. It cannot be used for the tenant-in-situ scheme.

"The Government has cut the funding to the Tenant in Situ Scheme, this scheme worked in 2024 as it prevented families from becoming homeless, as the council had a budget to purchase the properties.

"Now, that safety net has been removed by the government, forcing more families into homelessness", he said.

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Both Councilors argue that the situation is much worse than the official figures as there are many individuals that don’t fall into the government’s narrow metric to measure homelessness.

The slashing of tenant in situ funding and the repeated government failure to meet their housing targets, means that a secure home remains beyond the reach of many in our community, they said.