Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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607. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the hardship experienced by non-Irish local authority housing applicants in cases in which they have to prove they do not own property in a country they have previously resided in; if information can be provided to applicants regarding the correct officers to contact for this information by state; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41481/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The primary purpose of social housing support is to assist the provision of suitable accommodation for households who have a housing need but do not have sufficient resources to secure accommodation from their own resources.

The 2011 Social Housing Assessment Regulations provide that a household is ineligible for social housing support if a household member owns alternative accommodation that the household could reasonably be expected to use to meet its housing needs, either by occupying it or by selling the accommodation and using the proceeds to secure other suitable accommodation. On foot of this provision, Part 11 of the prescribed social housing application form seeks information on property ownership in the State and abroad and this applies to all applicants for social housing support.

A household is required, under Regulation 11 of the 2011 Regulations, to provide to the housing authority such additional information, including documents and other particulars, as is sought by the authority for the purpose of verifying information relating to its application for social housing support.

It is a matter for the local authority to determine what information is required in individual cases. My Department would expect that any information sought by a local authority in this regard would be appropriate, having regard to the circumstances of the household concerned