The Housing Agency administers the Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAAF) on behalf of my Department. This fund has been repositioned to a dual role to support both the ‘Housing First’ Programme and the new, pilot ‘Cost Rental Tenant in-Situ’ (CRTiS) Scheme.
The 'Housing First' Programme offers permanent housing to those rough sleeping or in long term use of emergency homeless accommodation and then provides them with other intensive supports which help them maintain their tenancy.
CRTiS is a new scheme that is available where a tenant household which is at risk of homelessness faces the termination of its tenancy due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. In this scheme, the Housing Agency can purchase rental properties from private landlords who are selling, they then continue to rent these properties to the tenants who remain living there.