BREAKING: Kildare Excluded From €50m Second-Hand Home Acquisition Fund To Tackle Homelessness

Wednesday, 10 September 2025 15:52

By Martin Osborne - Head Of News. Got A Story? Email news@kfmradio.com

The announcement comes as Kildare County Council says it has so far been unable to commit to any further home purchases under the Second-hand Acquisition Programme in 2025, despite a €15 million allocation from Government under previous funding.

Kildare County Council has not been included in the Government’s latest €50 million second-hand housing acquisitions boost.

The new tranche of funding under the Second-hand Acquisition Programme is being targeted at councils "most active" in Housing First tenancies and long-term homelessness exits - Dublin City (€22m), Fingal (€10m), South Dublin (€5m), Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (€2.5m), Cork City (€2m), Galway City (€4m), Limerick (€3m) and Waterford (€1.5m).

Officials say existing commitments from last year exhausted the current budget.

Kfm understands the the council recently reviewed its position in the hope that it could resume purchases later in the year while developing a pipeline for 2026.

At the time, the council warned of two major challenges: short timeframes for closing purchases, and the fact that upgrade costs are not covered by Government funding - a pressure likely to fall on the 2026 budget.

A longer-term roadmap for acquisitions is being developed under the National Development Plan to 2030.

Housing Minister James Browne said the additional €50 million for housing acquisitions will be used to support larger families with children and Housing First clients, to exit long-term homeless emergency accommodation.

"This targeted €50m acquisition programme will complement local authority efforts to exit families from homelessness using other delivery streams and the Housing Assistance Payment. A particular focus will be the acquisition of four-bedroom properties, which have not been available through other delivery streams," Deputy Browne said.

Deputy Browne said sufficient funding remains available from the original €325m allocation to allow all local authorities complete "whatever priority acquisitions" they have on hand for 2025 delivery.