Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Where an applicant for social housing support owns accommodation that is occupied by his or her spouse, from whom he or she is formally separated or divorced, a deed of separation is required. Local authorities may provide such households with social housing support under the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) or the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme until ownership of the family home is resolved in a formal separation or divorce settlement.

Support in these circumstances will be reviewed by the local authority at prescribed intervals and the household will not be able to transfer to other forms of social housing support while ownership of the family home remains to be determined. However, where the household ultimately qualifies for the full range of social housing supports, the length of time the household was supported under RAS or HAP will be reckonable for the purposes of determining the household’s relative priority for a transfer to local authority social housing.