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Annual Report of the Ombudsman 2003

Chapter 3 - Kildare County Council - Dispute Over Scheme of Letting Priorities

Kildare County Council

Dispute Over Scheme of Letting Priorities

My predecessor's Annual Report for 1999 included the case of a woman who complained that Kildare County Council had refused to provide her with details of her position on the housing waiting list. He commented as follows:

’I felt that applicants for housing are entitled to know the criteria used in determining housing allocations and, in addition, how these criteria affect their own applications i.e. where they stand on the housing list. Following a number of contacts from my Office, the Council agreed to introduce a system which would enable it to inform applicants of their approximate position on the housing list.’

It was disappointing, therefore, to receive a similar complaint against Kildare County Council in 2002. The complainant lived in private rented accommodation, and her lease was due for renewal. She was concerned that if she signed a new lease, and a Council house then became available, she could be left liable for rent for the term of the lease. She asked the Council for details of her position on the waiting list so that she could tell her landlord whether or not she could take a twelve month lease.

In the course of correspondence with my Office, and a subsequent meeting with the County Manager, the Council explained that it had put a points based Scheme of Letting Priorities before the elected members. Under the proposed scheme applicants would be invited to express their preferences in respect of the areas where housing was to be made available. When housing then became available, those who had expressed a preference for that particular area would then be assessed and ranked. The Council did not, however, intend to provide applicants with details of their points, or relative positions on the waiting list. Among the reasons given by the Council for not doing so were that it would consume staff resources in carrying out assessments and could leave the Council open to criticism for providing information which was not accurate.

My officials pointed out that the failure to provide applicants with information about their position on the various housing waiting lists was contrary to the undertaking previously given to my Office. While it was accepted that the recently proposed scheme was a method of determining priority for housing, the way it was to be implemented meant that applicants would still not be advised about their position on the housing list until such time as houses were ready to be allocated. In my view, the proposed scheme lacked transparency in a way that was likely to lead to a lack of confidence in its administration, and would continue to give rise to further complaints.

In order to overcome the difficulty my Office suggested to the Council that an application form, capable of capturing all the details required, could be provided by the Council and, when completed by each housing applicant would enable the Council to make a provisional assessment of points in respect of each applicant. At that stage, applicants could be advised of the areas where there were no plans for housing. Where housing was planned, however, applicants could be told the number of units being provided, the points they had been provisionally been awarded based on the contents of the application form, and the minimum number of points that would be needed to get an offer of accommodation in any particular area. The minimum points figure would be based on the overall demand for the number of units available. The provisional points awarded at application stage would be subject to verification in the event of the person having sufficient points to be considered for an offer at the allocation stage. Offers of housing would then be made in line with the scheme.

I felt that this approach would overcome the concerns of the Council regarding resources and the quality of information being provided to applicants, as a full assessment would now only be required in order to confirm or revise the details already provided at application stage. Applicants would now know the number of points they had been allocated, the basis upon which these points were allocated, and the minimum number of points they would need in order to receive an offer of housing. The Council subsequently advised my Office that it had adopted a Scheme of Letting Priorities which incorporated a provisional points assessment system at application stage, and the scheme was awaiting Ministerial sanction.

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