Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1163. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide clarity for local councils on the issue of self-employed people wishing to put their name on the social housing list in relation to the discretionary requirement from individual councils to request a minimum of two years' accounts with an auditor’s report and a notice of assessment and/or self-assessment acknowledgement letter for the preceding 12-months; and the reason the decision is left up to the discretion of individual councils. [45271/25]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1164. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason Meath County Council is permitted the use of its own discretion when requesting a self-employed person, seeking to apply to join the social housing list to provide a submission of two years' accounts with an auditor’s report and a notice of assessment and/or self-assessment acknowledgement for the preceding 12-months, instead of his Department laying out clear guidelines on whether it is legally required for county councils to request said documents. [45272/25]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1165. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he intends to introduce legislation compelling county councils to request self-employed individuals seeking to join the social housing list to provide minimum of two years’ accounts with an auditor’s report and a notice of assessment and/or self-assessment acknowledgement letter for the preceding 12-months. [45273/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1163, 1164 and 1165 together.

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 the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended.

The 2011 Regulations 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 requirements in relation to income information for employed persons is set out in the “Checklist for Applicants” on the prescribed social housing application form. This checklist sets out the documentary evidence required for self employed persons income which include the following:

- A minimum of 2 years’ accounts with an Auditor’s Report, and

- A Notice of Assessment and/or Self-Assessment Acknowledgement letter for the preceding 12 months

Given that the over-arching aim of social housing support is to ensure that support is provided to those households who cannot meet their accommodation costs from their own resources, it is vital that as clear a picture as possible of a household’s earning capacity is established when they apply for that support.

A degree of discretion is permitted to the local authorities as to the extent of documentation the authority deems necessary to ascertain a household’s average income over the preceding 12 months in order to satisfy themselves of the household’s true income pattern.

Decisions on the qualification of households for social housing support, the most appropriate form of such support, and the allocation of that support are a matter solely for the local authority concerned.