Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 July 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Private Rental Sector: Discussion

9:30 am

Mr. Michael Walsh:

Yes. The data on under-occupancy in social housing are readily available to us. We have cause to know that level of information because of rent assessments so we have it readily available. I do not have the data at my fingertips but there is a level of under-occupancy in social housing. Primarily it is as a consequence of the partners of elderly people becoming deceased. It is quite difficult in a social context. We seek to voluntarily move people into smaller units. There is resistance in many instances for obvious reasons. People are attached to their homes, as they have known them over a sustained period of time. Equally, people have no wish to move away from their neighbours. It is a very sensitive area. We are continually seeking to engage with people. In most local authorities, there are no rights of renewal for a sibling or a child in a scenario in which the person is not the primary tenant. That varies across local authorities. There is an objective across all local authorities to achieve greater occupancy levels rather than the other way around. We have to do so conscious of the social circumstances of our individual tenants and the responsibilities we have towards them.