Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 December 2013
247. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will contact county councils requesting the following information in tabular form, namely, numbers of their social housing stock; numbers on the housing list; and numbers of tenants in the rental accommodation scheme. [51605/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department publishes a wide range of housing statistics, including data on the social housing stock. The most recent data relate to 2012 and are available online at www.environ.ie.
My Department does not hold any current information on the number tenants on local authority waiting lists. This number fluctuates continuously as households allocated housing and new households apply for housing support. I directed all local authorities to prepare a summary of social housing assessments carried out in their areas as at 7 May 2013. The results of this assessment are expected to be available in the near future and will detail the number of households on local authority waiting lists at that date. The last summary assessment carried out, at 31 March, 2011, found that there were 98,318, households in need of social housing support . The full results of this assessment are available on my Department’s website www.environ.ie and the Housing Agency’s website www.housing.ie.
It is not possible to give a specific breakdown by county of the number of units tenanted at any given time under the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS). Numbers in RAS constantly vary as contracts end, tenants move on to other properties, landlords withdraw from the scheme, new tenancies are allocated or vacancies in contracted units are filled. Figures in relation to RAS units are generally provided as the number of household transfers from Rent Supplement (RS) to RAS and other forms of social housing support. Data on the total number of households which have been transferred from RS to RAS and other social housing options since the scheme was initiated are available online at www.environ.ie.
