Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 January 2015
901. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government if he will provide the number of persons in County Meath who have made applications for local authority housing since 2010. [49752/14]
View answer902. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government if he will provide the percentage of persons who have come off the housing list in County Meath in the past four years due to meeting their need through resources of their own from the overall County Meath housing list. [49753/14]
View answer903. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government if he will provide the number of local authority units that have been allocated to first time tenants in County Meath in the past five years. [49754/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 901 to 903, inclusive, together.
The assessment of households for social housing support, and the allocation of such support, is the responsibility of the relevant local authority in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated regulations.
The assessment, allocation and provision of social housing support in County Meath is, in the first instance, a matter for Meath County Council. The numbers of households on social housing waiting lists are subject to on-going fluctuation due to households being allocated housing and new households applying for housing support. My Department does not hold day to day information on the number of applications made to each local authority, the numbers allocated housing support and the numbers on housing lists.
There are statutory Summaries of Social Housing Assessments carried out at regular intervals. The most recent summaries were carried out in March 2011 and May 2013. In 2011, there were 3,255 households on the Meath local authority waiting list and this had reduced to 2,502 in 2013. The full results of the 2011 and 2013 summary of assessments are available on my Departments’ website at the links below. The 2013 results are not directly comparable to previous results as the 2013 summary employed different methodologies and was the first to be carried out under the 2011 Social Housing Assessment Regulations.
The Social Housing Strategy 2020 includes a commitment to increase the regularity of the Housing Needs Assessment by undertaking it on annual basis, from 2016 onwards.
2011: http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,27864,en.pdf.
2013: http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,34857,en.pdf.
Question No. 904 answered with Question No. 874.
