Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 400: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will advise that if a local authority tenant hands back their house to the council because of serious anti-social behaviour, whether that tenant can apply for housing to another council within the same local authority area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34560/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Under the Social Housing Assessment Regulations, 2011, a household may apply for social housing support to the housing authority for the functional area where it normally resides, or where it has a local connection. A housing authority may also decide at its discretion to accept an application from a household which does not meet these residence or local connection criteria.

In accordance with section 14 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997, housing authorities may refuse to make, or defer the making of, an allocation of social housing support to any applicant where that person has been engaged in anti-social behaviour or in the interests of good estate management.

However, decisions on the eligibility of specific persons for social housing support and the allocation of that support are a matter solely for the housing authority concerned. Section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 specifically provides that the Minister's power to issue policy directions and guidelines to housing authorities in relation to their housing functions shall not be construed as enabling him to exercise any power or control in relation to any individual case with which a housing authority is or may be concerned.