COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 08, 2013

MOTION NO. 6

MOTION: Councillor M. Devine

This Council requests the Manager to provide detailed report regarding the ASH scheme and to actively engage with Landlords and other relevant Agencies in its promotion with a view to creating a Register that potential tenants have access to

REPORT:

The government's Housing Policy Statement, published in June 2011, sets out the framework for national housing policy for the coming years and is focused on developing a new way forward for housing including maximising the delivery of social housing supports within the resources available.

The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is an initiative to cater for the accommodation needs of persons in receipt of Social Welfare Rent Supplement (RS) payments for in excess of  18 months and who are deemed to have a long-term social housing need.   Under the scheme a private property owner agrees to contract a property to the Housing Authority under lease type arrangements for an agreed term.   

The Social Housing Leasing Initiative (SHLI) facilitates the procurement of privately owned property under lease arrangements for the the provision of social  housing. Options including both long term and availability arrangements are offered to property owners.  While the initial general terms of SHLI applied only to private landlords, the scheme was later extended and now also applies to units made available for leasing by Approved Housing Bodies.

Applicant Sourced Housing: (ASH):

In support of, and as a driver to SHLI, the Department of the Environment Community & Local Government approved an Applicant Sourced Homes (ASH) programme.  

ASH is a client led scheme and provides an opportunity for housing applicants to source their own home from private property owners.  Under the scheme housing applicants are invited to source a home of their choice, suited to their need, in an area of their choice within South Dublin County,  and subject to the Council coming to an agreement with the property owner, the Council then leases that property and pays the lease rent directly to the property owner for the purpose of satisfying the applicant's accommodation needs.  

In order to deliver the schemes in a fair and equitable manner and to give housing applicants maximum opportunity,  the ASH programme continues to be rolled out on an incremental basis to persons on the social housing waiting list in accordance with their placement on the housing lists.  Letters are issued on a fortnightly basis alternating between the 2 the housing areas (i.e. north & south of the Naas Road).  

The ASH letter advises applicants to contact the Council's Procurement Unit directly for further information on the scheme and once an applicant returns contact, the applicant is fully briefed on the scheme and if necessary brings their housing assessment up to date. (This is in order to confirm continued eligibility for social housing support prior to entering into any lease negotiations with a property owner).  At this stage the applicant is advised by the Council's Procurement Unit to actively source a property and submit property and landlord details to the Council for follow up negotiations. 

Once a property is offered by an owner for inspection the normal lease process is carried out (inspection for standards, follow up works, certification documents, agreement on lease terms and rent etc) which ideally takes an average of 6 weeks to conclude.

As at 31/5/2013 c2600 applicants have been contacted in order of placement on the housing list with full information on ASH.

As at 30/6/2013 a total of -

Promoting Letting Opportunities: 

As part of the initial roll out of  SHLI and again in early 2013, the Procurement Unit undertook a promotional campaign targeted at landlords advising of residential letting opportuities with South Dublin County Council and of the leasing options available.  Advertisements were placed in the local newspapers circulating in the county (eg Echo, Gazette, Southside People).

The information provided outlined specific detail and included the following:

The response was moderate and there was a slight increase in the number of formal agreements signed in March and April 2013.

Register of properties: 

It is not intended to compile a Register of Properties for rental . All properties are let as soon as they become available to the Council.  In any event sites like Daft.ie and Local Auctioneers provide details on their websites. 

The Choice Based Letting system is now the Council's primary method of letting all suitable available properties.    It is an award winning scheme which leads to a quicker turn around in vacant properties.

Choice Based Letting permits housing applicants to choose the home they would like to be considered for from within all stock available to the Council for allocation.  Details of all units which  become available for letting / reletting either through casual vacancy/ surrender of Council stock, RAS, Leasing and through VHB's are currently published on the Council's Choice Based Letting site so that they can become absorbed into the system at the earliest possible opportunity, and if a number of applicants express an interest in a property the final offer will be made to the applicant with the highest list position for that particular type of property.