Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is unavailable this morning and he asked me to respond on his behalf.

Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended. The 2011 regulations prescribe maximum net income levels for each local authority, in different bands according to the area concerned, with income being defined as assessed according to the standard household means policy. Under the household means policy, which applies in all local authorities, net income for social housing assessment is defined as gross household income less income tax, PRSI and the universal social charge. The policy provides for a range of income disregards, and local authorities also have discretion to decide to disregard income that is temporary, short-term or once-off in nature.

The income bands are expressed in terms of a maximum net income threshold for a single-person household, with an allowance of 5% for each additional adult household member, subject to a maximum allowance under this category of 10%, and 2.5% for each child, subject to a maximum allowance under this category of 10%.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 throughout the country. It is important to note that these limits introduced at that time also reflected 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, promoting sustainable communities and providing a degree of future proofing.

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 facing the greatest challenge in meeting their accommodation needs from their own resources. However, as part of a broader social housing review and reform agenda, a review of the income eligibility criteria for social housing supports in each local authority is under way. The review will not be completed until the impacts of parallel initiatives on affordability have been considered as these will inform where the thresholds should lie.

These initiatives include the €200 million local infrastructure housing activation fund and the €310 million serviced sites fund. From this sum, €50 million has been allocated in 2021 to deliver more affordable homes. In addition, eligibility conditions for other key affordability initiatives, such as the national cost rental policy and the new affordable purchase shared equity scheme, which are included in the forthcoming affordable housing Bill, together with the Rebuilding Ireland home loan and the help to buy scheme, will all be factored into the work to ensure supports are targeted and given to those who need them.