Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

149. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government how he is monitoring new applicants on the local authority housing list in County Louth who are in this position as a result of house repossessions and notice to quit from landlords; the action he is taking to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8785/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The assessment of applications for social housing support, and the management of the lists of qualified households, is the responsibility of the relevant local authority in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated regulations. The prescribed application form for such support requires applicants to provide certain information on their current and previous accommodation, including whether they received a notice to quit or an eviction notice in respect of their current accommodation and the reasons for leaving previous accommodation. My Department does not collate day-to-day information on the number of applications made to each local authority nor the specific contents thereof.

Statutory Summaries of Social Housing Assessments are carried out at regular intervals and they provide information on the number of households on local authority housing waiting lists. Only those households which have been assessed as being eligible and in need of such support following the carrying out of the prescribed application process by the relevant housing authority are placed on the list.

The most recent summary, carried out as at 7 May 2013, provided details on the number of households categorised as having a housing need due to an unsustainable mortgage; details of the 2013 Housing Needs Assessment are available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

Further summaries of social housing assessments will be carried out on an annual basis from this year and will provide up-to-date and comprehensive data on the numbers of households qualified for social housing support on an on-going basis, including the level of households which have a housing need arising from unsustainable mortgages.