It's emerged a block of apartments recently bought by Dublin City Council were sold to it at a discount by a private developer.
The homes will be ready for people on the social housing list by March.
These 53 homes at Shelbourne Plaza in Ringsend are part of a trade-off, which means a developer now won't have to include social housing in a new building project in Ballsbridge.
Chartered Land bought the block and sold it on to the council at a cheaper rate to be used as social housing instead of it having to create ones nearby.
Dublin City Council's Deputy Chief Executive Brendan Kenny says the deal is a first of its kind:
"There's the best part of 20,000 households on the waiting lists, it goes by the length of time on the list, so it will go to the people who are highest on the list. Certaintly we will be keen to see some families from the local area getting in there. We haven't put much effort into the allocations yet we'll be doing that early in the new year."
The complex, which was built in 2007, had been run as short-term serviced accommodation until earlier this year.
The one, two and three bedroom homes will be ready for people to move into by March.
