Social housing

There is a council estate nearing completion not far from where we live. Does this mean that there will be nobody living there except single parents with large families and possibly health issues?

No.

No, they try to prevent ghettos (awful word but I don't know a better alternative)

They will have a mix of people which promotes better social stability.

There's a house estate on the Limerick Rd. in Ennis that I can only assume is purely Social Housing as there was no notice of houses for sale ahead of them being built/moved into

I seriously wonder how getting a letter from a TD will help your case? It's not as though the TD will write to the relevant body and say 'hey Johnny needs a house' and they suddenly magic up a house and knocks someone else out of their place in the queue.

This is not how it works - and rightly so.

I wish you were right and that the system was a fair one (albeit a system I disagree with mostly). However, on the ground and in the real world, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

This is why folk with brass necks will hound their local TDs for letters and representation. It's why folk go to the local housing office frequently to get an update on the number they are on the list and what is going on in their chosen area. It's why folk get letters from their GP about their deteriorating mental health and need for housing. It's common knowledge that another baby in the pram boosts your housing need.

I know this to be true because I know plenty of people in social housing, including siblings, all of whom at the very least exaggerated their needs to get housed. I personally know of 2 separate families who were in council accommodation and the relationships ended. In both cases, the parent who left the family home took custody (on paper) of 1 or more children in order to secure a council house/apartment locally. Disgraceful stuff.

There is no transparency in housing allocations, whatsoever. No accountability for decision-making in a Council Housing Dept. It is incredible in 2023, that this happens in a government agency.

If you have a housing need OP, apply for social housing

The only thing you can do is leave the country. Look. What’s the worst can happen. You don’t like it wherever it is you go to, you can just come back home again.

My daughter left 14 months ago aged 24. After the all the lockdown/masks/restrictions/testing/vaccines and working from home she realized that Ireland hadn’t anything to offer her so she just left.

It’s brilliant. She’s a new woman. She’ll never be back. Think about it even.

Yes my daughter misses us, her granny, her friends who live in Ireland and her little dog, but she’s made some fantastic new friends and is having great experiences that you won’t have if you stay at home. Don’t forget, you can come home if you don’t like it. Have a nice weekend.

There's plenty, but you get the point....you won't be prioritised. If there are opportunities abroad, grab them. Good luck either way

They absolutely count. Its yet another reason the housing officers want you out of the way. Getting in the media with a sob story is gold

Really? They would continue to be shunted around emergency accommodation for longer if they had not gone to the media

As stated, there is no transparency in housing allocations. The system is opaque

If it didn't work, nobody would do it. TDs and councillors have their staff write letters and emails and they make representations and pull strings for votes. I don't have to prove what is common knowledge. I have seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears several times. If you think the system is fair and/or transparent, then you are very naive.

What proof would you be looking for? The very opaque nature of how the housing list works makes it nearly impossible to provide concrete proof. Besides, any proof given is dismissed as an extreme, or edge case.....where these cases actually happen quite regularly. You yourself dismissed another poster above after they gave you evidence. These are far from the only cases which happen every day.

As I said already, anyone who thinks the system is fair and that people don't jump the queue, is naive and has their head in the sand.

Good to know that singles can be housed. I have only ever known 2 people who got single person accommodation, but that was in the late 90s and they were bedsits, so shared bathroom and kitchen facilities.

2 of my siblings were on the LAHL for less than 2 years before being housed. I know another family member who was on the list for only a few months before being given a contained unit...like a self contained bedsit...with own facilities, but that was on health grounds tbf. Still, in all cases, they weren't shy about contacting TDs and ringing the council every other day for updates. Having a brass neck gets you housed 10 times faster.

Regarding letters being read, filed and ignored; I speculate it depends on who sent them, who received them and where their allegiances are. A letter from Mary Lou holds a bit more sway than one from Cllr Donna Cooney for example (Donna Who?........exactly).

No one mentions a 'magic wand' - these politicians have held the reins of power now for many, many years and nothing is going our way with regard to housing - they need a good kicking at the polls - they are even bringing back that man with no bank account again.

TD letters are only good in scenarios where the applicant is on the edge of a certain classification and might be pushable over the line for things such as medical reasons. Even then it would probably be uncommon.

That family bouncing around emergency accomodation and Garda stations were likely on the cusp of being housed anyway given their extreme situation but people have it in their heads going to the media done it. This would suggest another family in similar dire circumstance were leaped on the basis of not going to the media which seems unlikely.

I'm not sure random 'annoying' of those who make decisions does much if anything. They must be well used to it. More targeted efforts might though.

We were seeking a social housing transfer a while back. We were on the medical grounds list after originally being on the overcrowding list. We had a preferred area in mind and several houses were in the pipeline for new tenants in that area. There was one house in particular that ticked a lot of boxes for us. We were tipped off very early that the council had just created a 25 year lease on a recently privately purchased house so we had a chance to be the very first family to make a play for it, so to speak. We made a very good case (if I say so myself) in writing and within 3 months were told we were being put forward for it. They hadn't even refurbished it to the minimum standards yet.

Now maybe it was coincidence and it was a transfer rather than new placement but I'm fairly sure with no decent expression of interest we wouldn't be here.