Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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460. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when the changeover from the points system in Dublin City Council to time on record will be approved and signed off by him; if legislation is required; when it will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19099/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Under Section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 all housing authorities are required to make an allocation scheme (in place of a scheme of letting priorities) for social housing. The making and amendment of such an allocation scheme is a reserved function of the elected members of each housing authority. The Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011, which came into effect on 1 May 2011, set out the conditions that housing authorities must take into account when making their allocation schemes. Guidance on the making of allocation schemes has issued both from my Department and the Housing Agency. This guidance is available on the Housing Agency's website (

My Department is currently overseeing a programme of social housing reform which includes elaborating on the allocation Regulations. The intention is to place a greater emphasis on ‘time on the list' as a criterion for allocating local authority housing, which will provide a more transparent system for the operation of a waiting list than the current point based system operated by many authorities. While it is intended to formalise this position through Regulations, housing authorities may already pursue this approach under the current Regulations which require them to set out the manner of allocation and order of priority for their authority.