Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent)
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850. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views that applicants for social housing should be entitled to choose whether they are accommodated in a city or country area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11086/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 set down a standard procedure for assessing applicants for social housing support. A household may apply for support to one housing authority only. The authority may be the authority for the area in which the household normally resides, with which it has a local connection, or any other authority that agrees, at its discretion, to assess the household for support.

A household meeting either the residence or local connection condition may specify up to 3 areas of choice for receipt of support in the areas of all housing authorities in the county or city concerned and, if qualified, will be entered on the housing waiting list of each of those housing authorities. Thus, a household that applies to Galway City Council could, if qualified for support, also beentered on the waiting list of Galway County Council.

The Government's Social Housing Strategy 2020includes a commitment to examine the possibility of introducing a “housing passport”. This measure has the potential to enhance significantly the responsiveness of the social housing system to changing housing needs by allowing households in receipt of, or qualified for, social housing support in one or more local authority areas within a county, to transfer to, or be allocated, social housing in another local authority area outside that county.