Sinn Féin has tabled an Emergency Motion for tomorrow’s Dublin City Council meeting demanding that the government reinstate the successful Tenants In Situ Scheme.

Cllr. Daithí Doolan, Sinn Féin Group Leader on Dublin City Council, said:

“The Tenant In Situ Scheme has been hugely successful in preventing hundreds of families in Dublin becoming homeless. The scheme allows Dublin City Council to buy properties for tenants who face a no-fault eviction notice, allowing the family to remain in the property as tenants of Dublin City Council.

“Latest figures show that there are now a total of 10,912 people homeless in Dublin, an increase of 1,015 since last year. This includes 3,415 children. But, we are still waiting for the government to release funding for this year’s scheme. This is a dangerous cocktail of heartlessness and incompetence. Meanwhile vulnerable families are the real victims.

“Families are facing the deeply distressing and traumatic crisis of being made homeless through no fault of their own. Yet this government continues to simply ignore the housing crisis. It really does confirm just how removed from reality this government has become.

“The Sinn Féin motion calls on the Minster for Housing James Browne to release the funding as a matter of urgency and allow Dublin City Council to start buying homes and preventing hundreds and hundreds of families becoming homeless.”

Text of Emergency Motion:

Dublin City Council fully recognises the positive role the Tenant In Situ Scheme has played in preventing hundreds of families entering homelessness.

To prevent more families becoming homeless through no fault of their own, we call on the Department of Housing to agree targets and release funding to Dublin City Council as a matter of urgency.