Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 November 2023
93. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are plans to allow domestic violence victims to transfer their housing applications to other counties without losing their time on the waiting list. [49071/23]
View answerWill the Minister give consideration to those in a domestic abuse situation who often through a housing assistant payment, HAP, or other form of temporary housing find refuge away from the family home and were previously on a local authority waiting list in their area? Could they be allowed to transfer to a local authority waiting list in another area without losing the time they have built up? These are unique circumstances that give some room for consideration of the matter.
It is an important question. Before I answer it, for clarity, in a cursory glance at Croí Cónaithe, it is important that Members state their correct position.
In its alternative budget last year, Sinn Féin stated, "As part of the financing of this component of our public housing policy Sinn Féin would redirect the small amount of funding in the Croí Cónaithe Towns fund into the capital funding for Local Authorities."
Read the full detail of the policy. The grounds will still be available. The Minister is misleading the House again.
No, tuigim é sin. It is important people know that.
Deputies.
In respect of this-----
He started it.
In respect of this important matter, applications for social housing support, as Deputy McAuliffe knows, are set by each local authority, and that is governed by the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Generally, it is not possible for a household previously on one social housing waiting list to carry over the time spent on the list when applying to another local authority. A new and separate application form would be required and assessed against the eligibility, including income limits and the criteria of which the Deputy will be aware. If deemed eligible, the applicant household will qualify for a suite of supports, including HAP, as he mentioned. Local authorities will prioritise allocations to those households they consider to be most in need and that can include survivors of domestic violence. Notwithstanding this, the programme for Government provides for a package of social housing reforms.
I will continue my contribution in my supplementary reply, but this is an area we are actively looking at and we should look at it in the context of discretion in each local authority area, not least for survivors of domestic, gender-based and sexual violence. The social housing passport is being looked at as well, although there are complexities as to how that will be administered. Many survivors need to leave where they are for their own safety and all of us, I am sure, have dealt with cases such as this. I am glad the Deputy raised the issue. We can point to the area of discretion in each local authority area in the context of priorities.
I welcome the Minister being open to the issue. I dealt recently with case where a HAP tenant who had been a victim of domestic violence was losing her home and the local authority included them in the tenant in situ scheme. It was a bit convoluted getting there but she walked away from a property interest she had in a family home. Anybody else would ask why someone would walk away from a property interest but it was because she was so damaged by the experience and so broken by what had happened that she just could not go back to that home. She could not in any way go back to that relationship. She did not want to give that person control over her life.
In those very limited circumstances, we should provide discretion at the local authority level. I had not considered that, but I would have great confidence in local authority staff that they would do that. I agree we have to be careful and, representing a Dublin constituency, I do not want everybody in the country to be able to switch to Dublin such that people who have been on the list for many years will be pushed down the list. Nevertheless, I ask that, in these very limited circumstances, something be done to address the issue.
There are areas, as the Deputy knows, where local authorities can provide priority, and the scheduling of allocations is governed by them. I have seen cases where a survivor of domestic violence has needed to leave their home and the local authority has been very supportive, even in instances where somebody has an interest in a family home but has to leave it.
We are making progress on this. We have changed how we fund domestic violence refuges. The capital assistance scheme, which provided 100% of the funding for accommodation, will also advance 100% of funding for ancillary services related to residences and counselling rooms. Our Department is doing a lot of work to support the Department of Justice and State agencies, with a particular focus on areas of the country where there are no refuges and to prioritise those areas. I was recently in Wexford, where a new refuge is being built. Following the Deputy's intervention, we will discuss this further with local authorities and revert to him.
Many years ago, when local authorities had a smaller number of approved housing bodies providing housing and they had more discretion to take it outside the scheme of lettings, those AHB developments were often used for these more sensitive cases where discretion could be applied, although we are in a changed landscape compared with where we were ten years ago, when local authorities had that power. As for the discretion of housing officers, they have a greater understanding of the housing crisis than perhaps even anybody in this House and, therefore, they are also able to understand the uniqueness of such a case where there is domestic violence. Perhaps, within parameters and with necessary controls in place, something could be put in at a local authority level. Applicants could spend eight, nine or ten years on a waiting list and could be subjected to domestic violence in a relationship that had developed midway through that process. For them to lose all that time and then to find themselves starting all over again in a new area is hard enough but they should not be disadvantaged further in securing housing when they could build a new life for themselves with a home. Anything we can do will be welcome.
Before the Minister responds, two other Deputies wish to come in.
I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this very important matter many of us have raised for a number of years. The social housing passport is the solution to this issue. It has been promised for a decade. The then Minister, Deputy Kelly, had it in his Social Housing 2020 plan published in 2014, and his successor, Deputy Coveney, had it in his Rebuilding Ireland 2016. It is in the current Government's housing plan. I do not accept it is complicated. The Government has to decide what criteria should apply. Domestic violence is clearly one but there are a number of others, such as employment, education and medical needs. If the Minister were to bring forward such legislation, he would have the universal support of the House. The social housing passport is the answer. It has been a decade in the making. We will support the Minister if he introduces it, and we urge him to do that as soon as he can.
I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this very important issue. On that, will the Minister give us an update on the social housing passport? I am concerned discretion will just not be enough to get what we are looking for here.
Separately, it can be especially frustrating for people who have suffered domestic violence to have delays in HAP applications. I know that is an issue across the board but particularly for people who have suffered domestic violence, that needs to be given priority. Will the Minister comment on that?
I thank all the Deputies for their contributions. The two Ministers of State and I discussed this yesterday at length on foot of Deputy McAuliffe's question, and I have engaged also with the Minister for Justice in respect of the new national strategy and what we can do to help in that regard. Moreover, the Minister for Social Protection has made changes on the social welfare side.
To respond to Deputy O'Callaghan, the HAP issue is certainly something we can reiterate. What I find, having dealt with individual cases, is that there is a case officer and cases are usually processed quickly when it is understood what the situation is where someone needs to access another property.
Turning to Deputy Ó Broin, we have carried out the scoping exercise on the social housing passport and it is a commitment in the programme for Government. There are genuine administrative issues, given it would involve tracking the movement of people across the board, so it is understood it is not easy. Nevertheless, in regard to this extremely vulnerable cohort, it is something that, following our meeting yesterday, we are going to look at again to see whether we can do this without having other consequences or setting a precedent across the board. We will look at it and I thank Deputy McAuliffe for his question.
