Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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381. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the actions he will take to ensure that those that are in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment will not continue to be excluded from the social housing list given the temporary nature of the payment. [34781/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated Regulations and are applied by all local authorities in assessing individual households for support.

The Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands according to the area concerned, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard Household Means Policy. The 2011 Regulations do not provide local authorities with any discretion to exceed the limits that apply to their administrative areas.

Under the Household Means Policy, which applies in all local authorities, net income for social housing assessment is defined as gross household income less income tax, PRSI, Universal Social Charge and Pension-Related Deductions within the meaning of Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009. The Policy provides for a range of income disregards, and local authorities also have discretion to decide to disregard income that is temporary, short-term or once-off in nature.

My Department is not aware of any exclusion from social housing lists related to the pandemic unemployment payment but it is aware of queries received from local authorities in relation to the treatment of Covid-19 payments in the assessment of income for the purposes of social housing support and is in the process of finalising guidance to the sector on same.