The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, TD, today announced the launch of the Dublin Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) Pilot Scheme, a targeted initiative designed to help more households access stable, long‑term homes by encouraging greater property owner participation in social housing provision.
The pilot scheme introduces a series of enhanced measures that give Dublin local authorities
greater flexibility to secure RAS properties and provide landlords with stronger financial certainty, reduced risk, and a more streamlined experience, thus increasing the number of homes available to social housing tenants across Dublin.In recent years, RAS has faced challenges in attracting and retaining properties. The new pilot scheme directly addresses these issues by offering improved supports for landlords, including:
- Flexibility to offer up to 100% of market rent
- Longer RAS contracts of up to eight years
- Front‑loaded rental payments
- Enhanced damage and compensation arrangements
- Streamlined onboarding and inspection processes
These measures are designed to give property owners greater confidence in the scheme, reduce administrative burden, and ensure a reliable, long‑term partnership with local authorities. By encouraging more landlords to make their properties available, the pilot will help increase the supply of homes for individuals and families in need of social housing.
The pilot will operate across all four Dublin local authority areas, with Dublin City Council acting as lead authority in partnership with Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire‑Rathdown County Council.
Minister Browne said:
“The Rental Accommodation Scheme remains an important part of our social housing system. This revised and improved programme will give Dublin local authorities practical new tools to work with property owners, secure more homes, and provide greater stability for households.
“By improving the way the programme works for those with properties that can be utilised, we can bring more properties into the system and help more people access safe, secure housing and tenancies.
“The measures being introduced reflect recommendations from the Review of the Future of the Rental Accommodation Scheme. This pilot allows us to test whether additional flexibility and stronger supports can increase property owner participation and expand the supply of homes available to social housing tenants.
“The evidence gathered will guide future national policy on the role and operation of RAS.”
The pilot scheme is supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and follows the publication of the Review of the Future of the Rental Accommodation Scheme, which highlighted the need to strengthen the scheme and better support property owners. The Dublin RAS Pilot will test key recommendations ahead of any wider national rollout.
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