Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
341. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if elected representatives will be granted access to the choice-based letting system in order that they can be aware of the properties being offered each week. [18437/20]
View answerThe day-to-day operation of social housing allocations to eligible applicants, including applications under the Choice Based Letting system (CBL), is a matter entirely for the relevant local authority.
Choice Based Letting (CBL) is a method whereby available social housing stock is let by being openly advertised by local authorities to persons on the social housing waiting list. This allows qualified applicants to 'register an interest' in available homes.
Applicants can act on their own initiative to respond to adverts and express an interest in dwellings that they would like to live in, rather than waiting for an authority to offer them a dwelling. This approach offers more choice and involvement for applicant households in selecting a new home, thereby reducing the likelihood of a refusal, and helping to build sustainable tenancies and stable communities.
The Social Housing Allocation (Amendment) Regulations 2016 required all local authorities, if they had not already done so, to provide for CBL as a method of allocation for social housing in their allocation schemes by the end of 2016. The way in which CBL is implemented, including decisions on who has access to the system and which properties are to be offered through it, is a matter for the individual authority concerned. However, it must be done in accordance with the relevant regulations and their own scheme of priority.
