Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here this evening. I would be very surprised if she is not aware of this issue in her area. On page 55 of the programme for Government, there is a commitment to introduce a social housing passport to allow households to move from one local authority list to another. This provision has been in every programme for Government for the past 15 years or so. I am struggling to understand what the issue is with it and why it has not been introduced.

This is best illustrated with examples. One of my constituents was originally living in the Dublin City Council area and went on its housing list. Due to the housing crisis, she moved to Balbriggan because it was the only place where she could get somewhere to live. Fast forward ten years and she has now been on the housing list for 12 years. She has nominated Balbriggan as one of her preferred areas. She was asked to move to the housing assistance payment, HAP, which she did. She now finds herself in a situation where she is very close to getting housed on the Dublin City Council list. However, in the intervening period, as one might expect, she has married and had children. The family have established and settled themselves in Balbriggan. The waiting list in my constituency runs to about 14 years. If she wants permanent social housing any time in the next 14 years, she will have to take the house offered by Dublin City Council. We believe that the offer of a house is fairly imminent. She will have to uproot her kids and take her partner away from where he is working. She will find it very tough to get to work herself. Her children are members of sports clubs in Balbriggan and take part in after-school activities there. She either loses out on the years she has accrued or she has to move.

I have another case of a woman who moved to Dublin from Monaghan. Her HAP was being covered by Monaghan County Council. She moved into the Fingal County Council area while Monaghan County Council continued to cover the HAP. She was advised to come off the Monaghan list, which she did. She now cannot get onto the Fingal County Council list because she is in receipt of HAP from Monaghan. Once a person gets HAP, the box is ticked and their housing need is deemed to be met. Although it is not permanently met, it is deemed to be.

The issue with this, in part, is the length of time involved. These are temporary measures, which would work fine if people were only on the housing list for six months. However, we all know that is not what is happening. A large part of this arises from the fact that people are not being told this when they sign up for HAP. They are not being advised that this could then mean that they then come off the housing list for the area that is not their primary area, which is often where they are living. That is one complication. Another complication is that if someone on a housing list gets a job offer in Cork, say, they have to make a choice between having somewhere to live or having somewhere to work. They cannot move without it.

This matter is further complicated by the fact that there is no consistency. South Dublin County Council will accept people and give them credit for the years they have been on a list. In other words, people can bring their social housing profile with them. This is not the case in Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council and as far as I am aware, in many others. This lack of consistency is a big issue. One of the main problems is that people are not being told. They do not understand the implications when they move. I have checked the form, and the relevant information is not on it. Neither is it on any of the guidance, which I checked before I came here, just to be on the safe side. People might say they did not see it. That would be fair enough if it was in the guidance, then it would be the person's responsibility, but it is not. People are not being told by officials in the councils. Very often, council officials do not necessarily know that this is the case because there is no consistency. I hope the Minister has a good answer for me

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