Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 184: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will issue policy guidelines and directives to local authorities to enable them, when allocating accommodation, to take account of persons who have separated permanently. [35016/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Regulation 22 of Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 provides that an applicant household for long-term social housing support is ineligible for social housing support if a household member owns alternative accommodation that it could reasonably be expected to use to meet its housing need, either by occupying it or by selling it and using the proceeds to secure suitable accommodation. For this reason, if either member of a separated couple applies, local authorities require evidence of legal separation or divorce before considering a household's eligibility for long-term social housing support, as the separation agreement will provide certainty regarding ownership of property. Authorities are aware of these provisions and take account of them when making decisions on social housing assessment applications.

Allocation of accommodation must be carried out in accordance with authorities' Allocation Schemes, the making of which is a reserved function of elected members of housing authorities.