Councillor warns homeless services could double in wake of landlord exodus
Homeless figures for Waterford have averaged 117 across 2025.
Independent councillor Blaise Hannigan said he envisioned figures for homeless services in Waterford “doubling” over the coming months in the wake of landlords leaving the rental market.
Figures from the Rental Tenancies Board (RTB) showed 5,405 termination notices were issued in the third quarter of 2025 - a 35% increase from the same period in 2024.
The move comes ahead of planned rental reforms that will strengthen tenants’ rights.
The reforms, which apply to any new tenancies from March 1, 2026, will see caps on rent increases, further guards on no-fault evictions and a six-year security of tenure that will begin after six months.
Cllr. Hanningan said he knew seven families that had been issued termination notices across his constituency of Tramore and Waterford City West.
“That’s going to snowball as far as I’m concerned over the coming months,” Cllr. Hannigan told the News & Star.
John Darcy, property portfolio manager for Liberty Blue estate agents, said he had to cover 12 notices of termination within a week following the announcement of rental reforms. Mr Darcy said he would usually cover four or five in a month.
“I think there will be definitely a contraction of landlords,” said Mr Darcy.
“I think the older landlords are going to be getting out…there's a lot of landlords that have previously been in financial difficulty, they’ll be coming off interest-only in the next year or two, and they can’t take the risk now that they're coming off a renewal of their mortgage, and they potentially can't get rid of a tenant.”
Small landlords who own three properties or less can terminate tenancy provided they fall under significant financial hardship that requires the sale of the property.
At the same council meeting where Cllr. Hannigan made his comments, Director of Housing Services Seamus De Faoite said the Council’s main anti-homeless measure - the Tenant in Situ (TiS) scheme - was slowly being rendered ineffective.
The TiS is a Government scheme introduced post-COVID that sees a local council buy properties from landlords to prevent a tenant being evicted.
The scheme is designed for individuals renting in the private market who are in receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment or Rental Accommodation Scheme.
Mr De Faoite said the scheme had been used successfully across 2023 and 2024, when local properties were given a concrete target of housing to buy.
According to Mr De Faoite, 68 properties were purchased for TiS across the two-year window.
In 2025, Government’s policy towards TiS shifted, with councils being allocated a certain pot of money (Waterford received €8 million) to spend on second-hand acquisitions.
Mr De Faoite said that allocation had to be spent across a myriad of housing services that catered towards homeless and disabled persons.
Changes to the system meant money could not be spent under the TiS for renovation purposes. Across 2025, the scheme was used only four times.
“It’s such a small pot, it's very difficult for the local authority to work,” said Mr De Faoite.
“So at this moment, it's difficult to see how we can operate the Tenant in Situ scheme this year unfortunately.”
A further €1.5 million was allocated to Waterford in September that was designed to help families exit long-term homelessness.
Figures from the Department of Housing showed 112 adults in Waterford presented as homeless as of November 2025.
Fianna Fáil councillor Adam Wyse said the Tenant in Situ scheme was “one of the better schemes that the government has come up with.”
Cllr. Wyse said the scheme allowed the council to buy the property of a landlord who intended to leave the market, and in turn ensure stability for the tenants.
Cllr. Wyse said without the scheme, the same family would have likely been put in emergency accommodation.
The only other mechanism Waterford City and County Council have in place to prevent homelessness is the ‘Own Front Door’ model, where the council buys vacant property to use as emergency accommodation.
A spokesperson for Minister of State for Local Government and Planning John Cummins TD said: “It is a matter for Waterford City and County Council to manage the €8 million in funding they have received for the second-hand acquisition programme.
“Critically, tenant in-situ is a policy tool available to local authorities to prevent social housing supported households in the private rented sector from falling into homelessness.
“It should only be used as a last resort by local authorities when all other options have been exhausted.
“The Department of Housing continues to engage with local authorities on any challenges which have emerged to ensure tenant in-situ acquisitions remain an option in 2026 where other solutions cannot be found.
“Waterford City and County Council has also recently received €1.5 million in ring-fenced additional funding to support families out of emergency accommodation and into permanent social housing.
“The Government has also moved to cut red tape for local authorities to accelerate their delivery of social housing by moving to a single-stage approval process, which commenced last week and will result in more people being prevented from entering emergency accommodation.”
