Social housing

yourdeadwright

I just wondering what is the reality of waiting for social /council houses in Ireland ,

They say two thirds of family wait over two years , So a third get them fairly quickly in under 2 years ,

You hear stories about people being on the list 10 years plus, Why is this, is it because they are simply refusing accommodation offered until they get what they want or are they just not getting offered anything at all, Or are they currently living with there parent's & not seen as a priority ?

I personally know someone who got house in 2 bed in Dublin within 5 weeks of being accepted on the list, mother & father with 1 child,

Is it just a scatter gun approach where you can be very lucky or very unlucky ?

RichardAnd

It depends on the circumstance of the individuals in question. A family will be housed far more swiftly than a single man. I don't believe that there is a formula that is used, but regardless of the selection process, the reality today is that there are more people than there are houses for them to live in.

Xterminator

each county council has its criteria. there are 4 in dublin alone. DCC publish their criteria. pasted below.

How We Prioritize

Dublin City Council is clear and transparent on prioritizing the housing needs of our tenants.

Band 1

Medical and Welfare Priority and other specified Priority Cases

Band 2

All overcrowded cases and those with previously awarded medical or welfare points

Band 3

All remaining qualified households

none of anyone's business why one household might be qualified under a priority rule - thats between them and the council. Sometimes you see someone parking in the disabled zones and they dont look disabled -but they have a badge and may have a hidden disability. Similarly sometimes family have urgent needs they don't discuss with neighbors friends and even family. It may not be obvious to an outsider/neighbor or acquaintance why they might be granted priority.

In the case of the council it is the councils interpretation of the evidence provided by the family as to how urgent it is, and where they are on the list. But once the criteria are clear and transparent - then its not scattergun - but as i said there are more councils and perhaps some are less transparent than others.

RonanG86

It varies depending on areas of choice and availability of housing stock in said areas of choice and such. All Councils have a scheme of letting priorities which should be on their websites. Note that where the scheme is very detailed, I doubt any Council sticks absolutely rigorously to it. ie. if first on the list is homeless, it's not a case that they'll house every homeless person in an area before moving onto the next category.

In my locality, with the increase in new builds over the past 10 years, a sizeable number of new 3 beds were sold to the Council as Part V or Turnkeys (these arrangements suited the developers by the way) to the point where in two of the four main towns the 3 bed list was down to under 2 years. But the 2 bed list was still in the 4-5 year bracket and 1 bed was "how long is a piece of string?"

In times gone by, the 1 and 2 beds would be sorted by the private market whilst they were waiting. That's getting tighter and tighter though.

I'm very surprised that someone got a 2 bed within 5 weeks anywhere, much less in a Dublin authority. I'm not doubting the veracity of what you're saying, but I think there's a detail missing there, ie. homelessness, where they were living was deemed a hazard, severe disability/medical issues for the child, had previously been on the list and somehow got their waiting time back etc. etc. The only other way I can see it is if they applied under Choice Based Letting for a house which no one else applied for.

billyhead

Could the family housed within 5 weeks have had pull?

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120830089#Comment_120830089

All i know for sure is the wife turned up at the offices in Dublin city centre & demanded that they be housed because apparently she heard of friends doing the same & getting housed more quickly ,Now as you say there may have been more details that where not disclosed to myself,

Its actually the reason i posted because its totally against any other stories you see reported ,

Bargain_Hound

A Family member-in law who is a single mother with 3 children is on the social housing list for 10 years now (Dublin). Pretty common scenario I believe. Though I do know of other families on it far less time who were provided housing very quickly after being on it, often leading me to wonder on this basis is there ways to pull strings or what specific criteria they fit into to move up the list that quickly. It's a very difficult subject to discuss IMO, without getting into particulars or offending.

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120830586#Comment_120830586

Ye its hard to know exactly what the situations are , a lot of the time people will only tell you half a story & also a lot of people can make out to the councils that there situation is a lot worse than it is in reality , It can go both ways like,

RonanG86

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120830475#Comment_120830475

There is definitely a detail missing then.

Either that or the Housing Officer is about to be sacked.

yourdeadwright

Just on a side note i know a family of 10 kids , So 12 in totally with mam & dad who last month got 2 houses on the same roads, 3 houses apart, The dad sleeps in one house & the mother in the other, not ideal but they are absolutely delighted to finally have space

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120834039#Comment_120834039

Jesus....

zell12

Apparently you go to a TD https://www.kildarestreet.com/committees/?gid=2023-05-30a.776

zell12

In SDCC, the average waiting time on the list for all allocations completed in 2021 was 9.67 years.

In Galway, it is bad “You need to be on the housing list 10 or 11 years before you have any hope at this rate. I have people coming to me after five years on the list, and there’s just no chance of them getting one (a Council house),”

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120830586#Comment_120830586

Remember housing lists are dynamic and you can move up and down depending on the circumstances of new additions to the list. Some people seem to think their number will keep getting lower but it's quite common for numbers to get lower as houses are allocated then higher because of new additions to the list so you could end up at a higher number at the end of the year than you were at the start of it year.

Note I've used number not position so the number you want is 1

Tuath and Cluid seem to be housing a lot in the 1/2 bed category in SDCC.

We surrendered our family home back to SDCC after my mother passed away, and my brother (who was on the tenancy and qualified in his own right) was re-allocated a 1 bed apartment with Tuath.

One of my neighbours, who is currently in a 2 bed bungalow, was widowed last year at age 72. SDCC are moving her this month, to a Cluid 1 bed. She was told she didn't have a choice in the re-allocation.

zell12

There was a woman on a Newstalk voxpop earlier in Athlone. She said she became pregnant and gave birth 22 years ago, and has been on the social housing list 23 years by June 2025. She is on the RAS for past decade

SupaCat95

The housing departments are funny. I know of a girl with serious Schizophrenia about 5 years ago got housing from Cluid in 6 weeks BUT that did have the push through of a psychiatric nurse. Also know of a middle age couple that were homeless for 4 years and could nt get a flat. They got left a bit of money and bought a house for the sake of interest they kept the claim open to see what would happen and when they started they were only 8 years from getting a house in Co. Meath, 5 years later they are only 10 years away.

vavava voom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120830586#Comment_120830586

She probably insisted on a house in a specific area next to mam and dad, hence the wait.