Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

48. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way in which the choice base letting scheme works (details supplied); the way in which homes are allocated; and the grounds on which homes are allocated. [37709/19]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Choice Based Letting is a method whereby available social housing stock is let by being openly advertised by local authorities to persons on the social housing waiting list. This allows qualified applicants to 'register an interest' in available homes.

Applicants can act on their own initiative to respond to adverts and express an interest in dwellings that they would like to live in, rather than waiting for an authority to offer them a dwelling. This approach offers more choice and involvement for applicant households in selecting a new home, thereby reducing the likelihood of a refusal, and helping to build sustainable tenancies and stable communities.

The Social Housing Allocation (Amendment) Regulations 2016 required all local authorities, if they had not already done so, to provide for Choice Based Letting as a method of allocation for social housing in their allocation schemes. The way in which Choice Based Letting is implemented, including decisions on which properties are to be offered through it, is a matter for the individual authority concerned. However, it must be done in accordance with the relevant regulations and their own scheme of priority.

Given the clear benefits offered by Choice Based Letting, my Department will continue to liaise with the local authorities to ensure that it is implemented as widely as possible across the country. This will be progressed as part of the implementation of a wider package of social housing reforms in respect of which proposals will be brought to Government shortly.