Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 October 2013
174. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the total number of properties currently let or leased to tenants on local authority housing waiting lists and or other; the extent to which such numbers have fluctuated over the past six years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45319/13]
View answerMy Department does not hold any current information on the number of tenants on local authority waiting lists.
I directed all local authorities to prepare a summary of social housing assessments carried out in their areas as at 7 May 2013. The results of this assessment, when available, will detail the number of households on waiting lists in each local authority by a range of categories, including current tenure.
The last summary assessment carried out, as at 31 March, 2011, found that there were 69,937 households in private rented accommodation. The full results of this assessment are available on my Department's website www.environ.ie and the Housing Agency's website www.housing.ie. The current assessment is the first to be carried out since the commencement of the Social Housing Assessment Regulations on 1 April 2011, which introduced a standardised system for assessing applicants for social housing support. The results will not therefore be directly comparable to the results of previous assessments.
My Department does not hold information on the allocation of social housing supports to households on the waiting list, whether to leased accommodation or other accommodation provided by the local authority.
The Social Housing Leasing Initiative (SHLI) is a form of social housing support that, along with the more traditional forms of support, is provided by local authorities to meet the housing needs of individual households. To the end of October 2013, 4,319 housing units have been provided under SHLI since it was introduced in 2009.
