HOMELESSNESS CHARITY FOCUS Ireland has warned that new housing legislation to be passed through the Dáil Wednesday night means a vulnerable person might be denied shelter for the night while a bed lies empty.

The Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 will amend housing legislation to formally require people applying for social housing to prove they are both legally resident and habitually resident in Ireland.

Lawful residency requirements already exist in practice (neither illegal immigrants nor international protection seekers are eligible for social housing), but have not previously been set out in legislation. 

Housing Minister James Browne said the changes are designed to bring greater clarity to the rules around who qualifies for social housing support, while placing existing residency requirements on a statutory footing. 

Last month the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission wrote to the housing minister expressing concern over provisions in the legislation that they said “are likely to result in more people being denied access to social housing assistance”. 

‘Inevitably increase’

Now, Mike Allen, Director of Advocacy at Focus Ireland said the bill includes “so many ill-considered measures, it is impossible to detail them all in one press statement”.

Allen said the new legislation will “inevitably increase the risk of vulnerable people being forced to sleep rough”.

He said the requirement to prove habitual residency often requires detailed paperwork which people in vulnerable situations, such as those fleeing domestic violence, are unlikely to have.

Allen said: “Under the old legislation, local authorities had the discretion on humanitarian grounds to offer on-going shelter to people. The Government amendments remove the legal basis for this humanitarian safety net and replaces it with a new so-called ‘safety net’ of night-time only shelter for two nights.”

“This Bill is the first change in homelessness legislation since 1988, but instead of using the opportunity to bring the homeless system up to date, the Government is slipping through a range of measures which bring it back to the Victorian past.”

Allen was also critical of the legislation setting down in law the times in which people are entitled to access shelter. He said it makes “no provision for winter darkness or people who have children with them”.

“There is still time for the Government to put this legislation on hold while it is given the detailed consideration it merits, or for the Seanad to play its constitutional role,” he said.

“If the legislation is passed unaltered, it will result in on-going tensions between homeless NGOs and local government about how its provision are implemented and monitored.”

The Department of Housing has been contacted for comment.