Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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15. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to improve the income eligibility limits for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33117/17]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if a review of income eligibility limits for social housing has been carried out; if so, the outcome of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33118/17]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I raised with the Minister's predecessor, through oral and written questions, the urgent need to improve the income eligibility limits for social housing in Cavan and Monaghan. As the Minister is aware there are different zones throughout the country and Cavan-Monaghan has a very low income limit. Every week people come to my clinics who are on low incomes but are denied the opportunity to go on the social housing list. These people have no chance whatsoever of getting a loan to purchase or build their own homes. I asked the Minister and was informed that a review would be carried out. What was the outcome of that review and what proposals does the Minister have to make the income limit realistic for people in the Cavan-Monaghan area? There are probably similar problems in other parts of the country.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 21 together.

The Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for each housing authority, in different bands according to the area, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard household means policy.

It should be noted that the income bands and the authority area assigned to each band are based on an assessment of the income needed to provide for a household's basic needs, plus a comparative analysis of the local rental cost of housing accommodation across the country. The limits also reflect a blanket increase of €5,000 introduced, prior to the new system coming into operation, in order to broaden the base from which social housing tenants are drawn and thereby promote sustainable communities. This increase also had the effect of future-proofing the income limits to a certain extent.

Given the cost to the State of providing social housing, it is considered prudent and fair to direct resources to those most in need of social housing support. The current income eligibility requirements generally achieve this, providing for a fair and equitable system of identifying those households facing the greatest challenge in meeting their accommodation needs from their own resources. As part of the broader social housing reform agenda, a review of the income eligibility limits for social housing supports is scheduled to commence later this year.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for the reply but it is basically the same as the reply I got several months ago. The review was to take place much earlier than "later this year". Will the Minister ask his officials to review this? Officials from Cavan County Council have spoken to officials in the Department.

I can cite a few cases I know of. A young lady came to me. She is a lone parent with three children, two at second level school and one at primary level. She works in a factory, in a low-paid job. She is on the family income supplement, FIS. She cannot qualify for social housing. By definition the fact that she is on FIS means that her income is not sustainable to support her family. How could she get a loan in her own right on an income that is not sustainable? The Minister is new to the job but will he ask his officials to try to bring some equity into this system? He said it is an "equitable" system. It is not equitable. I cited another case the last time I spoke to the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Coveney, of a young apprentice fitter and his partner, who had lost her job and is on jobseeker's allowance, and who have a child but do not qualify for social housing.

Mention was made earlier of the good history of social housing in this country and the good mix of people in communities where social housing was the predominant vehicle for providing housing but there will not be people in employment in social housing in the future if we continue the present policy. That would be disastrous for communities.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I apologise that the review has not yet commenced but it will commence later this year and we will get that done as a priority for exactly the points the Deputy makes about the circumstances facing his constituents in respect of eligibility for social housing or other supports they might need. This review will be important but we are also reviewing other measures in place, for example, the home choice loan for first-time buyers that people can avail of from their local authority, and the local authority mortgage scheme. We need to make sure that people can afford to live, without paying a disproportionate part of their income on their rent. We will consider the eligibility criteria for social housing to see what exactly may need to be done in that area.

In respect of the new schemes we are bringing on line, we are considering ways to find an affordable buy model that will work in other parts of the country. It is already working in Ballymun, where a housing cooperative works with the local authority and AIB. Ó Cualann helps deliver that. We are also considering affordable rental models. This all has to be part of the picture, including the review that will happen later this year.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister not to have a long-term review. He should get his officials to speak to good officials in the housing sections in local authorities. They know the difficulties that arise every day. I know from speaking to officials in my local authorities that they are refusing people the opportunity to join the social housing list but they know these people have no chance of getting a mortgage or a loan to buy their own premises or build their own house. This situation needs to be addressed and a review should be very short. Perhaps Cavan-Monaghan has particularly low income eligibility limits. If the Minister could ask his officials to ask about the Cavan-Monaghan situation I hope we could get the income limits increased.

There is a need to do this. The people involved in the cases I have cited are being denied a right to even be considered for social housing. I appeal to the Minister to deal with it urgently.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is right that the knowledge is there and the review can be targeted and can use the resources and knowledge that is already there. The figures in respect of the bands that are already there show that Cavan-Monaghan is lower than Dublin city, for example. Obviously, there would be a reason for that. If we were to move the band in one area it would have an impact across the whole country. We must bear this in mind as we do the review. I have committed to doing the review and we will do it as quickly as we can.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I urge the Minister to consider two other issues in the review.

The first is that, traditionally, local authorities were able to apply a certain level of flexibility for households that were just above the income threshold at their existing limits. In the housing needs assessment guidance note from the Department that was issued to local authorities last year, they were told to no longer apply that flexibility. A family could, for example, be €500 a year over the threshold and would be excluded from the list.

The second issue relates to family income supplement, FIS. This payment is made because the State recognises that household earns an income that is too low to sustain itself. Local authorities do not include FIS or carer's allowance in their assessment of the rent so it makes no sense that they would take FIS or carer's allowance into account for the assessment for social housing in the first instance. Whatever about the bands, and I have a second opinion to Deputy Smith on that, I strongly urge the Minister to remove FIS and the carer's allowance from the housing needs assessment. This would mean that anybody who is in receipt of FIS would not have the FIS payment used against them for the purposes of being deemed eligible for social housing. That would equally solve the problem for some of the constituents that Deputy Brendan Smith has spoken of.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ó Broin. I will consider that in so far as flexibility has changed the situation for households that might find themselves just above a threshold. Even though it might only be €500 in a year, it is not an inconsequential amount and in the scheme of things it makes a difference. I am not against flexibility in Government programmes and schemes as long as they are not open to abuse or attempted abuse by elected representatives who try to do something where they should not. We shall review this later in the year and I hope to come back as quickly as possible to the Deputies on the outcome of that review when it is completed.