1937. Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to introduce changes for those looking to apply for social housing (details supplied) who have been unable to secure housing from their own resources. [63624/26]

1940. Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if housing schemes are available or planned to allow persons (details supplied) to access housing supports to remain in their home. [63652/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1937 and 1940 together.

It is open to anyone to apply for social housing support at any stage, subject to meeting the eligibility and need criteria at the point at which they apply. Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended.

Under Section 20 of the 2009 Act and Regulation 22(1) of the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, a household shall be ineligible for social housing support if it has alternative accommodation that the household could reasonably be expected to use to meet its housing need, either by occupying it or by selling the accommodation and using the proceeds to secure suitable accommodation suitable for the household’s adequate housing. However, Regulation 22(2) of the 2011 Regulations provides that this ineligibility does not apply where an applicant for social housing support owns accommodation that is occupied by his or her spouse, from whom he or she is formally separated or divorced.

Local authorities may provide households with social housing support under the Rental Accommodation Scheme or the Housing Assistance Payment scheme until ownership of the family home is resolved in a formal separation or divorce settlement.

Support in these circumstances will be reviewed by the local authority at prescribed intervals and the household will not be able to transfer to other forms of social housing support while ownership of the family home remains to be determined. However, where the household ultimately qualifies for the full range of social housing supports, the length of time the household was supported under RAS or HAP will be reckonable for the purposes of determining the household’s relative priority for a transfer to local authority social housing.

A revised Household Means Policy 2026 issued to all local authorities recently. The accompanying Guidance, which sets out how local authorities should assess household means, provides savings are only relevant to the assessment in so far as they generate income for applicant households through dividends or interest.

Decisions on the qualification of social housing support are a matter solely for the local authority concerned.