Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 December 2014
438. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government regarding the approved housing bodies taking an expanded role in social housing delivery; if he will be putting in place more comprehensive transfer policies to allow for families that grow in size from when they are first allocated homes. [47188/14]
View answerThe Social Housing Strategy 2020: Support, Supply and Reform sets out clear, measurable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list. Central to the Government’s vision for the provision of social housing supports will be an enhanced role for the approved housing bodies in the provision of new supply.
In committing to provide 35,000 new social housing units, at a projected cost of €3.8 billion, the Strategy marks a fresh start for social housing in Ireland. Importantly, the Strategy restores the State to a central role in the provision of social housing through a resumption of direct building on a significant scale, primarily by local authorities and approved housing bodies.
The Strategy also includes a commitment to review allocations policy generally in 2015, which will include the development of a standardised transfer policy. Currently tenants of approved housing bodies are entitled to apply to the relevant housing authority for a transfer to another dwelling in accordance with the authority’s allocation scheme. Under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, all housing authorities are required to make an allocation scheme determining the order of priority to be accorded in the allocation of dwellings to households qualified for social housing support and to households in receipt of such support who have been approved for a transfer to another dwelling provided by a local authority or approved housing body.
