Fingal County Council has confirmed it is the latest local authority to pause applications to the tenant-in-situ scheme due to a lack of budget.
The scheme allows local authorities to buy properties where tenants are facing eviction because the landlord is selling.
Dublin City Council paused all new applications to the scheme in June.
Fingal County Council says it has exhausted its budget after making 32 acquisitions this year, compared with the 121 properties that were purchased under the scheme in 2024.
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Sinn Féin TD for Dublin Fingal West Louise O'Reilly said 60 properties, in the process of being purchased by Fingal County Council, have been stalled as the €20m allocated for the year has been spent.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said "the council tell me they don't have any money, that they have spent it all".
She added that "the important thing here are the families who are coming into my office who are presenting themselves as homeless..... And there is no option for them other than emergency accommodation.
"The tenant-in-situ programme is virtually the only, in fact it is the only, homeless prevention measure that the council have at their disposal.
"The alternative for people is to go into emergency accommodation and that's really just not acceptable."
Ms O'Reilly said that "the bottom line here is, this is families. This is the only homeless prevention measure that they have and it's very, very hard to deal with these families and you can't even give them any hope.
"But they know that they're going to have to head towards emergency accommodation. It's just heartbreaking."
She explained that the criteria for qualifying for the scheme was tightened last year to cover only those who lived in a property rented under housing assistance payments for at least two years.
"They have tried to narrow the criteria, but still the demand is huge."
She said that most of the people who are in social housing are working.
"They're working, they’re families and they are priced out of the housing markets."
She said that it is very hard to hold down a job when living in emergency accommodation, and it is really hard for the families keeping their children in their school.
She urged the Government to fund the tenant-in-situ scheme as "it is literally the only homeless prevention measure that the council have at their disposal at the moment".
