Housing scheme saw Cork council acquiring 64% less homes last year

Cork City Council acquired 64% less homes in 2025 than in 2024, under a programme to help avoid homelessness, with this year’s allocation set to see the programme stagnate.

The scheme helped 224 people avoid entering emergency accommodation in 2024, but carryover commitments consumed the 2025 budget.

The programme, which sees Cork City Council acquire private properties if tenants are at risk of homelessness, made headlines last year after the council said the Government had provided “inadequate” funding for it to continue.

A circular issued by the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage in March 2025 said there would be a capital funding allocation of €20m for Cork city in 2025.

At an emergency council meeting last April, a report by the council’s chief executive Valerie O’Sullivan, stated that the city council was initially granted funds for 110 home acquisitions in 2024, then was told by the Department of Housing in June 2024 that they could work to their allocation plus 50% and costs could be recouped.

The council engaged with the department and obtained approvals for a further eight additional homes above this 165 allocation, Ms O’Sullivan said.

They carried forward 38 homes to 2025, but the costs to acquire these projects and to recoup 2024 transactions would use up the funds allocated for 2025, and leave them at a €1.69m estimated deficit, she said at the time.

EVICTION

This meant that households who had been given an eviction notice from their private rental property, then told that the property would be bought allowing them to become a council tenant, were left in limbo.

For 2025, the council had engaged in discussions on the acquisition of an additional 33 properties, but no funding would be left for these, Ms O’Sullivan added at the April council meeting.

Figures provided to The Echo by Cork City Council showed that a total of €20.7m will be provided for 2026 allocations, meaning a similar number of properties should be acquired this year to last.

Nationally, government has made €373m available for local authorities to draw down for acquiring housing, to be used for acquisitions across the following categories; exit from homeless acquisitions, acquisitions for persons with disabilities, older persons and care leavers, and tenancy sustainment (tenant in situ) acquisitions.

The council spokesperson added that in 2024, 73 such units were acquired by the council, but this dropped to just 26 in 2025.

The Echo is aware of at least two families that had to present at emergency accommodation last year due to their landlords putting their homes on the open market.

In February 2024, there were 532 adults in emergency accommodation in Cork. Figures published last week show that by February of this year, this has increased by 43%, to 760.