HOUSING AUTHORITIES must ensure potential new tenants and existing ones know about changes to the regulations for assessment for social housing, the Irish Council for Social Housing has said. The council is a national federation of 300 social housing organisations.
From Friday, all housing authorities will have to assess housing applicants twice – once to determine their housing needs and a second time immediately before being allocated housing.
Donal McManus, the executive director of the council, said it was crucial the new process was well publicised “to prevent people in genuine housing need from getting lost in the move from the old to the new system”.
The council welcomed the progress made on special needs issues in the new regulations.
“In the past, both the elderly and people with disabilities were overlooked within the assessment process and a key test will be to see if this new system ensures that these groups are properly represented and assessed correctly”.
The new system for assessing applicants also introduces set income thresholds for different areas of the State.
“There is some concern that these set limits may have a negative impact on households that exceed the thresholds and could be deemed ineligible for social housing,” said Mr McManus.
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