Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 April 2016
772. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the status of the housing list (details supplied) in Kerry County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6060/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department does not routinely collate the information sought on the number of, or reasons for, refusals by households of offers of social housing tenancies.
However, following my interaction with local authority Chief Executives, over the course of 2015, I requested feedback from them on the level of refusals of offers of social housing across the local authority system and the various reasons put forward for such refusals. Kerry County Council indicated that its refusal rate is 11.3% and the reasons given for refusals are generally location related.
In order to address the refusals issue on a sectoral basis, every local authority has been requested to consider the introduction of a Choice Based Letting (CBL) allocation system to allow social housing applicants to choose properties themselves from those available from the Council’s stock. This regime operates very effectively in some local authorities already. Local authority Chief Executives are currently considering the optimum approach to the introduction of CBL across the entire local authority system.
Information on the number of households currently on local authorities’ housing transfer lists is not held by my Department. The management of transfer lists is a matter for individual housing authorities and the numbers fluctuate continually as, for example, households are granted transfers in accordance with an authority’s allocation scheme to take up other accommodation options.
