Council opens up housing list in 'unpopular' areas - The Irish Times

OLIVIA KELLY

COUNCIL HOUSES in areas perceived as unpopular are to be made available for rent to anyone on the Dublin housing waiting list from today under a new Dublin City Council scheme.

Houses in Darndale and Finglas South, areas that have been considered undesirable by qualifying housing applicants, will be advertised to let in newspapers and online under the council’s new “choice-based lettings” initiative.

Until now, local authority housing in Dublin has been allocated through a system of points granted to applicants based on their housing need and length of time on the waiting list.

The city and county are divided into 23 housing areas and applicants can choose a maximum of three areas of preference on their application form. When a house becomes available, the council contacts the person with the highest number of points for that area.

If they reject the property, the council moves to the applicant with the next highest number of points, continuing the process until the house is accepted and let.

However, some properties are repeatedly rejected by qualifying applicants, which means they are left vacant for months.

“Long-term vacant properties are easy to identify and pose a higher risk of being vandalised and, in some cases, can put adjacent houses and families at risk to the same vandals,” the council said. “There is also a loss of revenue to the council.”

It had chosen to run the new scheme on a six-month pilot basis in Finglas South and Darndale on the city’s north side, where some properties could be particularly hard to let, it said. “At present, when vacancies arise in these areas, the allocations process can sometimes be very lengthy.”

A small number of properties will initially be advertised. Anyone on the local authority’s waiting list can register their interest in a property even if they had not already included either area on their list of preferences. Each property will be allocated to the person with the highest list position.

In a briefing to councillors on the scheme, assistant city manager Dick Brady said there may be a perception of antisocial behaviour associated with some of the areas, but “anti-social behaviour is a prevalent issue across all our estates”.

Properties will be advertised from today at dublincity.ie, council offices and local newspapers.

via irishtimes.com

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