Only 3 allocations with tenants-in-situ and under Choice Based Letting

ONLY three allocations have been made under Choice Based Letting and tenants-in-situ, respectively, for the Clondalkin area for quarter one of this year.

This is what the Council told Councillors at last month’s Clondalkin area committee meeting.

“Three does seem quite a low figure but .. it [Choice Based Letting] operates on time on list, so you could have had hundreds more expressing interest in the property, but due to their place on the list only three have been allocated a property through that,” said Fiona Hendley, Senior Executive Officer, Housing Provision and Financial Management section.

These Choice Based Letting and tenant in situ figures apply to the Clondalkin, Newcastle, Rathcoole, Saggart and Brittas area.

While unable to confirm whether she foresees an increase in the tenant-in-situ scheme, Ms Hendley said that there had been a steady increase in requests. “Tenant in situ is being seen as preventative to homelessness,” she said.

Ms Hendley said that the timeframe involved in tenant in siturequests varies depending on each individual property. “A few things have to be assessed, property assessments have to be carried out, the suitability of the people actually living there, are they … suitably accommodated, are they over-accommodated … [or] under accommodated?” she said.

Responding to Sinn Féin Councillor William Carey’s query regarding the difference in time between when a person is offered an allocation and the time they get to move into the property, Ms Hendley said that this can be due to several reasons.

“We have to carry out Garda checks, we have to carry out estate management checks … so they would delay a transfer or a move at that time,” she said.

When the Council know that properties are coming on stream it can do offers or checks in advance, but this is not always the case.

“Because if it is on Choice Based Letting (CBL) it’s based on the expressions of interest.

We only know who needs to be checked when they have expressed an interest in the property,” said Ms Hendley.

Ms Hendley also outlined the difference between the various categorisations of Choice Based Letting.

“The Choice Based Letting is the main thing, so we have general, so we have the general housing list, which has …five thousand, six thousand on it, and then you have the HAP (Housing Assistance Payments) transfer list, so that’s why it’s split between Choice Based Letting and HAP and Choice Based Letting and General,” she said.

Ms Hendley also explained the difference in categorisation between Choice Based Letting Homeless as opposed to Homeless.

“The homeless operate a homeless priority list so people that are in emergency accommodation … so they look at the list and offer allocations directly to people on the list,” she said.

“Whereas the people in emergency accommodation or on homeless HAP have access to Choice Based Letting which they can make their bids on,” she said.

Ms Hendley also explained why nobody through Choice Based Letting that are on the homeless list have been successful in a bid or possibly may not even have made any bids.

“Because a lot of times people that are in our homeless service, they are not long on the list, for the various different reasons, they’ve only become homeless and it’s a shorter time on the list,” she said.