Council undertakes housing list cull
Around 1,500 households could lose their spot on the Galway County Council social housing waiting list, because they have not responded to correspondence from the local authority ahead of tomorrow’s deadline (Friday).
Out of 1,850 applicants contacted by the Council, less than 300 have replied – they risk losing their place on the list, and for those in receipt of rent supplement, they risk losing the benefit.
At a meeting this week, councillors were told a Housing Needs Assessment is being carried out in the county – as instructed by the Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government – which involved the Council writing to 1,850 applicants on the existing waiting list.
The assessment is to establish if households still have a housing need or situations where an applicant may have found accommodation elsewhere, moved away from Galway, or even died, as well as the numbers of people in the household and incomes.
The 1,850 figure is the number of applicants who were on the list and approved for social housing prior to April 20, 2017 when changes were made to the listing system.
Director of Services for Housing, Michael Owens said the warning is clear – those who have not responded by the April 27 deadline will be removed from the list.
They will then have to reapply, and if approved, will be a new addition to the list, losing their original placing.
Mr Owens added that anybody in receipt of rent supplement will put that benefit at risk by no responding to the local authority correspondence.
He explained that correspondence was sent to all 1,850 applicants concerned and advertisements were placed in local media.
“We are concerned in relation to the low response rate. Less than 300 responded. We are currently issuing postal reminders and will be texting later in the week. People cannot ignore it, if they do, they will be removed from the list,” Mr Owens told Monday’s meeting.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.