Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 June 2013
161. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if any persons currently housed under the rental accommodation scheme are also on housing waiting lists with the local authority; and the reason for same. [29724/13]
View answerMy Department does not hold information on the number of households on local authorities’ waiting lists. This figure continuously fluctuates as households are allocated housing and new households apply for housing support.
Since the commencement of Section 19 of the Housing Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2009 on 1 April 2011 formal legislative recognition is given to rental accommodation availability agreements as a form of social housing support. As a consequence, RAS tenants do not fall to be assessed under the new eligibility requirements set for new applicants for social housing.
In recognition that RAS is a relatively new form of social housing support, and that some RAS tenants may have had expectations about access to local authority rented accommodation, households accommodated in RAS prior to the commencement of Section 19 have access to a special transfer pathway to other forms of social housing support, which includes traditional social housing.
