Social and Affordable Housing Applications Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 December 2015

Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Questions (579, 580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585)

Dessie Ellis

Question:

579. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants on housing waiting lists and why he is not aware of the level of housing need. [45124/15]

Dessie Ellis

Question:

580. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants on the housing waiting list for County Donegal. [45125/15]

Dessie Ellis

Question:

581. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants on the housing waiting list for County Galway. [45126/15]

Dessie Ellis

Question:

582. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants on the housing waiting list for County Mayo. [45127/15]

Dessie Ellis

Question:

583. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants on the housing waiting for list County Sligo. [45128/15]

Dessie Ellis

Question:

584. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants on the housing waiting list for County Leitrim. [45129/15]

Dessie Ellis

Question:

585. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applicants on the housing waiting list for County Roscommon. [45130/15]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

I propose to take Questions Nos. 579 to 585, inclusive, together.

The statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2013 identified 89,872 households assessed by housing authorities as being eligible and in need of some form of social housing support as at 7 May 2013. The 2013 results provide details on the number of qualified households on the waiting lists of each individual authority and are available on my Department’s website at the following link:

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,34857,en.pdf.

The 2013 figures are the most up-to-date and reliable figures available and are based on a comprehensive review by housing authorities of the households on their waiting lists on a set date in accordance with a prescribed methodology to ensure consistency. This process involved local authorities contacting individual households to confirm their continued requirement and qualification for social housing support. The 2013 figure is of course subject to ongoing fluctuation due to households being allocated housing and new households applying for housing support.

Taking the numbers on a housing list without a full assessment of eligibility and need would be a flawed process as it does not compare like with like. Such figures are based on the numbers of households currently held on file by individual local authorities, which were not subject to the comprehensive review applied under the 2013 summary. For example there may be households included where members of the household have secured employment or whose circumstances may have otherwise changed since 2013 meaning the household is no longer qualified for or in need of social housing. The 2013 figures do not include duplicate entries and those already in local authority, voluntary and co-operative housing or the Rental Accommodation Scheme, and as such, are the most accurate that are available.

By way of illustrating this point, I understand that one local authority wrote to all households held on file as requiring social housing in August of this year, in the context of changes to the social housing allocation procedures locally. In 2013, at the time of the last full assessment, the authority had a waiting list of 6,440 households. In response to a Freedom of Information request this year it reported 8,043 households on file for social housing purposes. As a result of the recent correspondence and based on the responses received the local authority identified 5,790 qualified households on its waiting list at the end of October with a further 528 on transfer lists. The local authority in question accepts that some households may yet still respond and is open to that eventuality. This example illustrates the risk of taking the waiting list as being the number of households on file at a point in time without the requisite check for ongoing eligibility and need.

I recognise that we need up to date and comprehensive data on housing need on an on-going basis but this data needs to be robust and must be gathered based on a sound methodology. In order to ensure we have that data, the Social Housing Strategy 2020 includes a commitment to undertake a statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments on an annual basis from 2016 onwards.