The most recent assessment of need for social housing, undertaken by local authorities in March 2005, indicated that there were 43,684 households on local authority waiting lists compared with 48,413 in March 2002. More detailed results, including a breakdown of this figure by local authority, are available in my Department's Annual Housing Statistics Bulletin for 2005, which is available on my Department's website —www.environ.ie.
Data in relation to the length of time applicants spend on local authority waiting lists is also available. However, this data is grouped into time classifications and therefore it is not possible to calculate a national average waiting time nor to identify which local authority has the longest waiting time. National data available on the duration that applicants spend on waiting lists is as follows:
Length of Time
|
2005
|
% of need
|
Less than 1 year
|
17,664
|
40
|
Between 1 & 2 years
|
8,872
|
20
|
Between 2 & 3 years
|
6,733
|
15
|
Between 3 & 4 years
|
3,725
|
9
|
More than 4 years
|
6,690
|
15
|
Total
|
43,684
|
100
|
More detailed data, including a breakdown by housing authority of waiting list times, is also available in the 2005 Statistics Bulletin.