Councillor calls for review of procedures of removing applicants from housing lists

A REVIEW of the procedures around the removal of people from the county council housing list has been called for by a Sinn Fein councillor.

Helen Meyer raised the issue at the September meeting of Meath County Council. She asked the council housing department to review its procedures around Housing Needs Assessments to ensure that every effort is made to contact the housing applicant before removing them from the housing list.

In supporting information provided to Cllr Meyer by council officials it was stated that the housing needs assessment is carried out by all local authorities on an annual basis. It was a statutory requirement and it finds out how many people are in need of social housing. It demands a rigorous tracing of applicants to find out if they still need social housing. If an applicant fails to respond the council uses its discretion to find out if the need still exists, the officials said. It may be the case that the applicant no longer needs social housing or has left the local authority area. If an applicant eventually contacts the council it may reactivate their application without affecting the original date of qualification.