Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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225. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the main differences in the way in which local authorities and approved housing bodies select or approve tenants; the legal basis for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17033/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Households wishing to obtain social housing support from a housing authority or an approved housing body must first apply to the relevant local authority for a social housing assessment. Where the household is deemed qualified for support it is placed on the housing authority’s waiting list, and offers of suitable accommodation are made in accordance with the authority’s allocation scheme as they arise.

The allocation scheme is made by the elected members under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and in compliance with Social Housing Allocation Regulations made thereunder, and specifies, among other things, the manner of, and the order of priority for, the allocation of dwellings to households on the housing and transfer lists. Under section 22, an allocation scheme shall apply to dwellings owned or under the control of a local authority, as well as dwellings provided by approved housing bodies with Exchequer funding.

Approved housing bodies are independent not-for-profit organisations, which operate in accordance with their Memorandum and Articles of Association and stated rules. Where a vacancy arises in a dwelling owned by an approved housing body, the relevant housing authority may nominate suitable households from its housing or transfer list to that body, having regard to the order of priority set out in its allocation scheme.  

Such nomination rights are linked to the provision of funding by my Department under its capital and current funding schemes for social housing. The rules in this regard are set down in my Department's memorandum on Capital Funding Schemes for the Provision of Rental Accommodation by Approved Housing Bodies (Voluntary and Co - Operative Rental Housing) of May 2002,  and related circulars, and the relevant Payment and Availability Agreements in force.  Approved housing bodies may also, in consultation with the relevant housing authority, make its own nominations for a proportion of tenancies in accordance with the relevant funding rules for tenancies in a housing project funded under a capital scheme.