Proposal to let Kildare housing applicants see list position rejected
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THE prospect of Kildare County Council introducing a system which provides social housing applicants with their current position on the waiting list has been shut down by the local authority.
Fine Gael councillors William Durkan, Fintan Brett, Declan Ryan, Paul Brooks and Kevin Duffy brought forward a motion at the most recent meeting of Kildare County Council proposing “that the council explores the introduction of a system which provides housing applicants with their current position on the social housing waiting list, in line with other local authorities”.
Director of services for housing and regeneration Annette Aspell issued the council’s report, which stated that the introduction of such a system “is not considered feasible within the framework of the Council’s adopted Allocation Scheme. Any such figure would risk creating a false impression of certainty in a process that must remain responsive to statutory priorities, housing need, area choice, and the properties available at any given time”.
Under the council’s allocation scheme for the provision of social housing, allocation is prioritised mainly based off time on the list, subject to the priority categories set out in the scheme. Applicant’s housing needs and areas of choice are also factors in how the council allocates homes. The elected members of the council adopted this scheme in 2023.
The council does not operate a points-based system to rank applicants on the waiting list. Kildare’s local authority “operates a scheme in which priority can be affected by a range of factors, including housing need and area choice, meaning that an applicant’s relative position can change depending on the property available and the cohort of eligible applicants at that time”.
The councils said that it provides transparency through its’ choice based letting system, where applicants can log in online to see and apply for available homes.
Cllr Durkan said that the aim of the proposal was to provide more information for people who are “living with quite a lot of uncertainty in their lives”.
Cllr Aoife Breslin – who serves as chair of the council’s strategic policy committee on housing - expressed her disagreement motion. She said that the system in place is the fairest one currently available.
The Labour Party councillor said she has dealt with people who are on the points-based system in Dublin, and have seen their position on the list fluctuate from one week to the next.
With regards the issue of applicants waiting extensive lengths of time for a home, cllr Breslin said: “There’s a very simple reason: we don’t have land”.
Cllr Chris Pender expressed his agreement with cllr Breslin, saying that the current system is fair before adding that it could, however, be more transparent.
