COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

HEADED ITEM NO. 4

Social Housing Support Scheme

REPORT:

Traditionally social housing was provided only through the allocation of houses owned by Local Authorities or AHB.  In recent times alternative methods forms of social housing support have been introduced.

Social housing support is provided by a local authority or an *Approved Housing Body (AHB) to people who cannot afford housing from their own resources.

Local authorities are the main providers of social housing support in Ireland. There are a number of ways a local authority provides housing:

  1. A social rented tenancy in property owned and managed by the local authority.
  2. A social rented tenancy in property owned and managed by an approved housing body.
  3. A tenancy in a property the local authority is managing or has leased from a private property owner
  4. A RAS (Rental Accommodation Scheme) tenancy where the local authority arranges short or long term leases with private landlords for particular properties. (Only people in receipt of rent supplement for 18 months or longer are eligible to apply for this type of accommodation).
  5. Sale of houses under an approved scheme (none currently in place)

A local authority also provides accommodation specifically for Travellers and for people with specific housing needs, for example:

*Approved Housing Bodies are independent non-profit making organisations that provide:

To advance methods of gaining access to these supports the Council has introduced in the recent times a number of schemes to assist applicants.  These schemes are:

CHOICE BASED LETTING (CBL)

Choice Based Letting Scheme enables the housing applicant to see what houses are available for letting and to make decisions over where they live and tenure choice (council, voluntary housing and leased homes).  The Council advertises homes available to let to eligible housing applicants on the Council's Choice Based Letting Website.

Each applicant is given their Username and Pin to access the website when they are approved to be included on the housing list. Every Friday, the list of available homes is advertised on the website and applicants can make their expression of interest in the properties on the website by noon on the following Tuesday.

The housing department will then offer the home to the applicant who is the highest on the housing list of those who have expressed an interest subject to Garda vetting

Internet access and computer facilities are available at local libraries and applicants experiencing any difficulties on the website can contact the Council or call into the Council’s Customer Care Centres in County Hall, Tallaght or in the Civic Offices, Clondalkin where a member of staff will demonstrate how the system works or indeed assist them make a bid.

SOCIAL HOUSING LEASING INITIATIVE

The Social Housing Leasing Initiative is a mechanism that provides arrangements for the delivery of social housing through long term leases of private dwellings by both local authorities and approved housing bodies to meet the accommodation needs of persons on the social housing waiting list.

There are two types of arrangement as follows:

  1. The first type is a standard lease whereby the Council assumes full responsibility for tenancy management and maintenance of the property and a monthly contract rent is paid up to 80% of the market rent being paid for a similar property in the same area.
  1. The second type is an availability arrangement similar to RAS whereby the property owner retains all tenancy management and maintenance responsibilities and a monthly contract rent is paid up to 92% of the market rent being paid for a similar property in the same area.

Applicants who are awarded tenancies become tenants of the Council and are charged rent calculated in accordance with the council's differential rent scheme as may be changed from time to time. 

Overall 175 properties have been contracted countywide and are currently tenanted through SHLI.

To assist the Council and applicants fast track the identification of landords who may be prepared to lease houses to the Council we have introduced the following scheme

APPLICANT SOURCED HOUSING (ASH)

This scheme provides a mechanism whereby housing applicants are invited to source a home of their choice, suited to their needs in an area of their choice within South Dublin County. The Council will lease it and pay the lease rent directly to the property owner, subject to the Council coming to an agreement with the property owner.

The following table outlines details of ASH letters issued from Procurement Unit since February 2012. It should be noted that letters are issued in accordance with placement on the housing list and are currently issued in batches of 100 every fortnight for alternate housing areas ie North / South of the Naas Road.

As of 02/04/13 Total no. of ASH Letter sent    
1 Bed List 193    
2 Bed List 714    
3 Bed List 692    
4 Bed List 124    
Total 1723    

Benefits to the Applicant

It is anticipated that fortnightly batches of invitation letters will increase from 100 to 150 in the coming weeks.

Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS)

The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is a mechanism for the provision of social housing and is available to persons who are in receipt of Social Welfare rent supplement payment(s) for a period of eighteen months or more.

Under the scheme a private property owner agrees to contract a property to the local authority under lease type arrangements for an agreed term while retaining all tenancy management and maintenance responsibilities for the property. (In some cases it is possible for the existing tenants of privately rented properties transfer over to RAS where / when the tenant is RAS eligible).

A monthly contract rent is paid by the Council to the property owner monthly in advance at up to 92% of the market rent being paid for similar type property in the same location. The property is tenanted by RAS eligible persons and a Differential Rent is payable by the tenant to the local authority.  

Since mid February 2013 ( in similar fashion to ASH)  invitation letters are now issuing to RAS eligible housing applicants in accordance with their placement on the housing list.   282 letters have already been issued to RAS eligible persons advising of RAS eligibility and that RAS is now a recognised form of social housing provision. The letter instructs the client to bring their housing assessment up to date and for them to provide landlord details of a property adequate to their housing needs for RAS consideration following which efforts are made to negotiate a RAS contract.   

To date responses have been received in 127 cases, all of which are at various stages of processing.  In cases where there is no response, a review will be carried out in due course with probable notification to Community Welfare which may effect their rent supplement payments.  

Overall 1410 properties have been contracted countywide and are currently tenanted through RAS. Properties contracted to RAS are subject to the terms of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and disputes arising between landlords and tenants are generally to be referred to the PRTB instead of the courts.

Benefits of the Scheme:

Nationally and locally RAS has provided many people with housing and allowed them to dig their way out of the poverty trap.  One of the main benefits of RAS is that it helps to provide the necessary springboard to accessing employment, training or education opportunities which may lead to broader accommodation options in the future.  Unlike Rent Supplement, tenants who progress can stay in the scheme upon taking up full time employment and as the tenant’s income increases a higher contribution in line with the Council's differential rent will be sought.

Other benefits include: