Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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282. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the housing needs of persons on RAS are deemed to be met; if persons on RAS are still eligible for inclusion on local authority housing lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47396/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Since 1 April 2011 and the commencement of section 19 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, rental accommodation availability agreements, including Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) agreements, are considered to be a form of social housing support. As such, tenants accommodated by a local authority in a RAS arrangement are deemed to have their housing needs met.

However, it was recognised that tenants who were allocated RAS accommodation prior to 1 April 2011 may have had expectations that they would remain on the main housing waiting list and be eligible for other forms of social housing support. Accordingly, my Department issued guidance to local authorities at the time, recommending that RAS tenants who wished to transfer to other forms of social housing support be given this opportunity via the creation of a transfer list option.

The principle being applied was that the reasonable expectations of these households should be preserved and they should be placed on a transfer list with no less favourable terms than if they had remained on the main housing waiting list. This list, whilst being a ‘transfer list’, would reflect the specific priority/previous position that that household had on the main waiting list within the authority area in which they are resident.  Local authorities are responsible, in the context of their individual schemes of letting priorities, for managing the operation of their transfers lists.

Since its introduction, RAS has provided and continues to provide high quality accommodation to many thousands of households. It remains an important delivery mechanism to meet social housing need in the context of the targets for delivery set out in the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness.