Housing group urges applicants to register for social housing

ONE of the country’s main housing federations has warned people who are in need of social housing to register with their local authority before March 31.

The Irish Council for Social Housing yesterday expressed concern that people looking to be put on council lists for social housing were not being made aware of the deadline.

March 31 is the closing date for the assessment of the national need for housing which is carried out only every three years by the State authorities.

Although most councils accept applications for inclusion on housing lists at any time, the Department of Environment only conducts an exercise to plan for future housing needs every three years.

ICSH executive director Donal McManus criticised the failure of local authorities as well as the Department of Environment for not adequately promoting the upcoming assessment deadline.

“Social housing provided by local authorities and housing associations is a key element of social policy and our welfare system and as such people should be made aware of how and when to apply,” said Mr McManus.

The ICSH said it was vital that accurate statistics of the need for social housing was obtained as more than 1.1 billion is due to be spent on such programmes in 2005.

Mr McManus stressed that people in need of social housing could avail of a number of options including voluntary and co-operative housing as well as shared ownership.

The last assessment in 2002 showed more than 48,400 households in need of social housing.

Mr McManus predicted the figure would increase in 2005 in part due to changing demographics which have seen a large number of immigrants arrive in Ireland over the past few years.

“Many of these people find themselves in the private rented sector and they are not aware of their rights to apply for social housing,” he said. It is estimated non- nationals constitute around 10% of all those on housing waiting lists.

The ICSH claims there is still a major imbalance between the number of private dwellings and social housing built each year. Only 6,500 units constructed in 2004 constituted social housing or less than 9% of the total new housing stock.

The ICSH has also expressed concern about the small numbers of disabled and elderly people applying to be put on housing lists.

“There is a significant deficit in the assessment of the needs of people with special needs who are notoriously under-represented,” said Mr McManus,

Only 423 disabled people were recorded on housing waiting lists in 2002, although it is estimated there are almost 400,000 people with disabilities living in the State. Mr McManus said it was also necessary to carry out assessments of housing needs more frequently.

“We don’t wait every three years to see how many people are unemployed or on hospital waiting lists and housing needs should be treated in the same manner,” he said.

“It might be suitable as a research tool but not for managing waiting lists.”