COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

QUESTION NO. 2

QUESTION: Councillor G. O'Connell

To ask the Manager to report on the new approach to the provision of accommodation in this Area Committee's electoral area, to include the number housed over the past two months, the number offered but not taken up, the number currently on the “active” list and the number, if any, of those who did not qualify and why?

REPLY:

The main impact of the new allocation system is that it facilitates the applicant when choosing a  dwelling that they are prepared to accept as opposed to the Council choosing the tenant for that property.  It also permits applicants to see the actual number of properties available in any area which may influence their decision on their area of choice.  It may also influence a decision on the tenure of dwellings to be sought as the Council will shortly be promoting leased properties as well as voluntary housing  properties  in this manner.

Since the last meeting the Council has implemented Choice Based Lettings as the primary method of letting 3 Bed dwellings.  All applicants on the 3 bed lists were informed of this by way of letter.  Any available properties are advertised on the new Council website each Friday.  To date it has proven to be very successfull  in so far as there is a large interest in the webpage with an average of 54 expressions of interest the first week, 72 the second  and 78 in the third in each property.  

It is proposed to introduce this system to the remainder of the housing stock i.e. 2 Bed to the 2 Bed list  in the coming weeks.

The areas of preference have been reduced from 5 to 2 and this will permit applicants from the Lucan area to express interests in all available housing North of the Naas Road

The RAS tenants have been advised by letter  and asked to specify  if they wish to be included in a Transfer Pathway List that will provide, in due course, an opportunity to apply for transfer to Council housing as directed by the Department.   An appropriate Transfer Pathway  Scheme will be finalised forthwith. This Transfer Pathway List will be distinct from the current Transfer List. The closing date to respond indicating an interest in this option i.e. inclusion on this Special Transfer Pathway List is 25th November 2011 .

From 01/09/2011 to date 19 housing applicants have been accommodated in the housing area of 'North of the Naas Road', 12 in Clondalkin and 7 in Lucan. The Council received a total of 5 refusals for dwellings in Clondalkin area - 3 refusals of offer on dwellings under the traditional offer system and a further 2 refusals were received from applicants who had expressed an interest in dwellings in the Clondalkin area under the Choice Based Letting system.  No refusals for Lucan.

There are currently 10,008 applications included in the Council's Housing List .Of these approximately 6,741 applicants have expressed an interest in housing North of the Naas Road.  Most recent data indicates that approximately 5% of all housing applicants would not be eligible in accordance with the Council's current Allocation Scheme, for various reasons for example: residency in the state, excess of income limit, adequately accommodated in current dwelling, already included on another Local Authority's housing list etc. .

It should also be noted that approximately 60% of applicants on the Housing List are currently receiving rent subsidy through the Community Welfare System .