Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

Section 22 provides that housing authorities put in place an allocation scheme for the provision of social housing supports to eligible households. It replaces section 11 of the Housing Act 1988. The section will allow the Minister to make regulations governing the making of an allocation scheme, the method by which households are prioritised and how the scheme will operate. It re-states some of the provisions of section 11, most particularly providing that the Minister cannot direct the allocation of a dwelling to a specific household, subsection (17)(b).

At present, housing authorities use a scheme for letting priorities to manage the allocation of dwellings to households in need. Authorities have compete discretion as to how households are prioritised within those schemes, which means there has been little consistency in how dwellings are allocated across local authorities. They also make no specific provision as to how transfer applicants are to be managed. Most housing authorities put in place their own arrangements in that regard. The reform of the allocation policy is part of a suite of reforms aimed at improving services and ensuring that social housing is delivered in a way that is fair and efficient. This approach was developed in conjunction with the local government sector. The social partners were also consulted through the housing forum.

The key components of the new allocation system include: a standard framework within which housing authorities will make their allocation schemes; a standard prioritisation methodology which will be applied to all housing authorities; a standard mechanism for housing authorities to deal with refusals of accommodation; the power for local authorities to reserve certain portions of dwellings to target particular groups in need; a mechanism to take account of the location preferences of eligible households; and standard mechanisms for housing authorities to manage transfer applicants and emergency accommodation requirements.

Subsection (1) sets out dwellings to which the allocation schemes made by a housing authority will apply. This is being expanded from the 1998 housing Act to include not just local authority housing but also dwellings provided by the authority through contracting or leasing and dwellings owned and provided by the voluntary and co-operative sector. In terms of local authority housing this includes dwellings provided under any of the housing Acts since 1966 and dwellings provided under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, where the authority is the owner or has leased or contracted a dwelling, including the rental availability agreements.

Subsection (2) provides that a housing authority may allocate a dwelling to the household in accordance with an allocation scheme made under subsection (3) of the section. Subsection (3) provides that a housing authority should, not later that a year after the section comes into operation, make an allocation scheme to set out the priority in which the allocation of dwellings will be made to households that have undergone a social housing assessment under section 20 and who have been determined to be qualified for that support and households already in receipt of social housing support of some kind and who have requested a transfer from a housing authority or who have applied to purchase a dwelling under Part 3, the incremental purchase scheme. This is similar to requirements of section 11 of the 1988 housing Act and has been extended to provide that housing authorities must also have an allocation process in place for transfer applicants. It also provides that households availing of the incremental purchase scheme must be subject to an allocation scheme.

That is the main thrust of the section.