housing authority issues

[zaza7625]

Hi.
Please let me know if anyone knows, how long is housing waiting time/pending/ time, after having applied with 4 eu children to get a house?

thanks

[Latintraveller]

It all depends on the local authority, their housing stock and the amount of people on the waiting list.
If you are still in the list (and getting Rent Supplement) in 18 months time you can try the RAS scheme. A friend of mine recommends it.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/ho ... cheme.html

[Brigid from Ireland]

My personal opinion is that the RAS scheme or housing provided by a charitable/voluntary body is less valuable than a house from the local authority.

Reasons: 1. You can never buy the house if it is owned by a charitable/voluntary body, but you can buy the house if it is owned by the local authority, and they give you a percentage discount, which increases by reference to the length you have lived in it.
2. If you surrender a local authority house to buy your own house, there is sometimes a grant available (not available if you surrender the other types of house).
3. RAS has advantages - mostly that the houses are often in 'nicer' private estates, but the big disadvantage is that when the children leave home you will be re-housed in a smaller home, suitable to a couple with no children. Again, this does not happen if you have a local authority house.

Zaza, if you know where you wish to live, you can ask that local authority how long is their waiting list. Personally I would recommend that you live in a town like Longford, with good transport links (train) to Dublin, because in a town like that you will be able to purchase a house in a good part of town, even if your income is very low, as houses are cheap there. (With four children, their presence will bring your income up to a level where even a small job will allow you to buy a house in rural Ireland). If you are in Dublin you will never be able to purchase a house, and will be renting in an area where beloved may be a problem and schools not very good, but in Dublin it is easier to get a job, so it is a difficult choice to make. Schools will definitely be better in rural Ireland than in a poor part of Dublin.

[Latintraveller]

Like so many things in life it is horses for courses!

We live in Tramore which has nice council estates (we are waiting to be interviewed) but we believe there is a long wait for a council house as this is a popular town. Friends of ours (a couple) in the town are living in RAS accommodation. They have a lovely 4 bedroomed house for which they are paying about 50 quid a week. So here in Tramore I would probably go for a council house rather than RAS if I had a choice of both for the reasons that you (Brigid) mention.

Down the road in Waterford many council estates are not very nice and since if you turn down three council houses that you may be offered you could lose Rent Supplement. Therefore although my knowledge is limited, maybe it would be better to go for RAS in the rougher parts of the country. It really depends on your list of priorities. There are also charities that rent houses apparently.

On the subject of Rent Supplement, we are currently living in a two-bedroomed holiday flat costing €400 per month. These flats are grand in the summer, but are very cold in the winter and cost a fortune to heat. The flat also has damp problems. When we handed in the application forms for council I showed photos of the damp problems and where newspaper is stuffed down the windows. The clerk said that they dont take these things into consideration as there is plenty of rental property these days. Assuming that we could shortly move into a more expensive house shortly (making up the shortfall of the housing allowance cap of €475 ourselves I agreed with her). Yesterday I was shocked to find out that we will NOT GET ANY help at all with our rent if we take a property priced at a penny above the €475 limit. Most non-summer properties are priced here at €600 per month and even in rough parts of Waterford are €525 or more.

zaza7625 please take these things into account when applying things to your circumstance. These things are very complicated but the board is a great source of information and Brigid and others have helped me and many others very much.