Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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188. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the rules that apply to separated persons applying for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47592/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Under section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and Regulation 22(1) of the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, a household is ineligible for social housing support if a member owns alternative accommodation, to the household’s current accommodation, that is suitable for the household to live in.

Regulation 22(2) of the 2011 Regulations provides that this ineligibility does not apply where an applicant for social housing support owns accommodation that is occupied by his or her spouse, from whom he or she is separated under a court order or deed of separation. The rationale for this exception is that the terms of a formal separation or divorce will provide for the future ownership and occupation of the family home and it will be clear whether the household that has left the family home can return to live there.

In order to provide more flexibility to housing authorities to deal with cases where the ownership of the family home had not yet been finalised the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 amended section 20 of the 2009 Act. Housing authorities may now provide such households with social housing support under the Rental Accommodation Scheme or the new Housing Assistance Payment scheme until ownership of the family home is resolved in a formal separation or divorce settlement.

The 2014 Act amendment provides that support in these circumstances will be reviewed by the housing authority at prescribed intervals and the household will not be able to transfer to other forms of social housing support while ownership of the family home remains to be determined. However, where the household ultimately qualifies for the full range of social housing supports, the length of time the household was supported under RAS or HAP will be reckonable for the purposes of determining the household’s relative priority for a transfer.