Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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241. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to review the income guidelines for local authority housing lists in view of rental increases. [17020/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands according to the area, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard Household Means Policy.

The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band were based on an assessment of the income needed to provide for a household's basic needs, plus a comparative analysis of the local rental cost of housing accommodation across the country. The limits also reflect a blanket increase of €5,000 introduced prior to the new system coming into operation, in order to broaden the base from which social housing tenants are drawn and thereby promote sustainable communities.

As part of the broader social housing reform agenda, a review of income eligibility for social housing supports has commenced and  I expect the results of this review to be available for publication in late Summer 2018.