€600,000 unspent in Laois on housing scheme to prevent homelessness

Just under 40% of the funding given to Laois County Council to buy or refurbish houses for people on the housing waiting list was not spent in 2025, according to new figures.

Department of Housing Data also reveals how many formerly private homes were purchased under the programme, which focuses on buying second-hand homes to help people and families in "very difficult housing situations".

Announcing €373 million for local authorities under the 2026 Second Hand Social Housing Acquisitions Programme, the Department of Housing revealed how much money was spent last year, the Laois council spent in 2025 and what it is getting this year.

Apart from helping people in difficult situations, the Department says that for "tenancy sustainment", the scheme acts as a "last resort" to prevent individuals or families from becoming homeless when no other options are available.

While the money is primarily earmarked for purchasing houses, some of the cash can be spent on refurbishment.

The figures provided to the Leinster Express / Laois Live show that County Hall in Portlaoise was given €3 million to spend. The provisional spend on acquisitions in Laois was €1,806,155.  A further €555,000 was provisional expenditure on refurbishment. 

A Departmental table said the provisional underspend in Laois was €602,648. This meant that just over 60% was spent. County Hall was able to buy 10 homes with the money.

There is significant disparity between councils on spending their allocations. Kilkenny managed to buy just one second-hand house, while Offaly County Council bought just two houses with its money.

At the other end of the scale, Dun Laoighre Rathdowney Council spent nearly 114% of its budget but managed to purchase just 35 homes. 

The figures show that Laois is getting €2.5 million under the scheme in 2026, a €500,000 reduction on last year. 

Laois County Council figures provided to County Councillors at the end of 2025 show that the local authority bought 11 homes 'across all categories' between September 2024 and November 2025. There was one purchase in train. The council purchased four houses where the tenant was in-situ.   

Other data shows that in the four years to 2024, the council bought 900 new homes and 129 second-hand homes for people on the housing waiting list. The national average ratio of new house acquisitions to second-hand purchases in Laois was 6.98, which is above the national average ratio of just over 6.

Today’s funding includes €150 million ring-fenced for acquisitions that will support households to exit long-term homeless accommodation and €50m for Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) to provide accommodation for elderly or disabled persons and care leavers.

Announcing the funding fhe Minister for Housing, James Browne, said the allocation nationally was increasing by €80m compared to what councils drew down in 2025 under the programme.

READ ALSO: Planning lodged to build 88 houses on busy Portlaoise residential road

MORE BELOW PHOTO.

PICTURED: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD at Rath Rua, Portlaoise, during his visit on February 13 to officially open 164 new homes across Laois. Picture: Jeff Harvey

“The acquisitions programme is, rightly, targeted at pressing need and largely operates as a last resort for our councils to utilise in order to ensure that households in the most precarious of housing situations can be protected. The first response to housing need should always be to build more social housing and, and thankfully, we are seeing many of our local authorities begin to gain the much-needed momentum in that regard, but I am driving on with the policies at Government level that means that the path is clearer for that delivery. 

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“As we build more social homes, the need for housing acquisitions should drop away as the overall pool of social housing increases.”

The Minister added that €157 million will be available to local authorities to use at their discretion, including for tenancy sustainment or tenant-in-situ acquisitions.

There will also be a contingency of almost €16 million withheld, to support local authorities likely to draw down their full allocations and with the capacity to progress further acquisitions and draw down funding from the Department this year.

As last year, local authorities will be authorised to commit up to 30% of the value of this year’s base allocation for acquisitions that will likely only be completed in 2027, continuing the multi-annual approach to funding activity.

Finally, the eligibility criteria introduced in 2025 for tenant-in-situ acquisitions will be retained, and a further condition added that Tenant-in-Situ acquisitions will not be permitted for households that have refused a reasonable offer of local authority or AHB social housing accommodation following receipt of Notice of Termination.