COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 08, 2010

MOTION NO.2

MOTION: Councillor C. King

That this Council in view of the lack of Social Housing new builds taking place now and in the foreseeable future calls on the Manager to prioritise the section of the scheme of lettings that deals with 'downsizing' to ensure the most efficient use of existing housing stock, as the current arrangement does not prioritise these specific transfer applications.

REPORT:

The Council's Scheme of Letting Priorities 2006 allows for priority status to be granted to certain tenants applying for a transfer to alternative accommodation, included is the category of those downsizing.  The Council facilitates this category of transfer in so far as possible.  The availability of suitable accommodation and having regard to those on the Council's Housing List determines the quantity of such transfers.  The Housing List per dwelling size is as follows:-

Unit Type	No. of Units	% of Housing List
1 Bedroom	2910	34%
2 Bedroom	3370	40%
3 Bedroom	1974	23%
4 Bedroom	252	3%
TOTAL	8506

At present there are 661 tenants on the Transfer List of these 209 are on grounds of downsizing as follows:

Bedroom Requirement	No. of Requests
1 bed	76
2 bed	121
3 bed	12

The resulting vacancies would be as follows:-

CURRENT DWELLING SIZE	TOTAL
2 Bedroom	21
3 Bedroom	164
4 Bedroom	24
	209

Currently we are priotising those on the transfer list that are overcrowed and it is recognised that those seeking to downsize can provide a welcome stock from which we can accommodate them.  However while cognisance is taken of these applicants desire to downsize we must also balance  the financial impact such transfers will have on the current maintenance budget and the priority to concentrate on the re-lets in this constrained financial climate.  This in effect means we will only consider the downsizing provided the housing units are in good repair.