merrion street

The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Mr. Eoghan Murphy, T.D., and Mr. Damien English, T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for Housing and Urban Renewal have today (26 September, 2018) published the detailed results of the 2018 Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA).

The results show that 71,858 households were assessed as qualified and being in need of a social housing support as of 11th June 2018. This represents a decrease of 13,941 households or -16.2% on the last assessment in June 2017. Indeed, since Rebuilding Ireland, the numbers of those waiting on social housing homes, has dropped from 91,600 to 71,858 – that is a reduction of 22%.

Today’s report provides an in-depth profile of social housing support applicants. The list is analysed under a number of different headings including for example, location, household type, basis of need, time on the list and the need or otherwise for specific specialised accommodation.

Some of the key findings are:

· The four Dublin local authorities account for more than 43% of the entire national list however, there were almost 4,500 less households on their combined lists in 2018 compared to 2017;
· All local authorities, except Cavan and Monaghan, saw the number of households waiting for social housing support fall;
· Many counties saw their lists fall by a significant amount during the period including for example Louth (31.5%), Roscommon (31.4%) and Cork City (28.7%);
· Just over one-third of all households on the waiting list are in receipt of rent supplement;
· The majority of those qualified for social housing support are unemployed (54.2%);
· Single person households (47%) are the predominant household grouping in need of social housing support;
· The median waiting time of households qualified for social housing support is 4 years and 2 months;
· Over 17% of households on the waiting list have specific accommodation requirements;
· 75% of those on the list are Irish, while the remainder is made up of households from other countries;
· The median age of household applicants is 30-39 years. Approximately 10-15% of households are headed by a person aged under 25 or over 65.

The results of the 2018 Assessment are a clear indication that the actions to address the supply of social housing solutions are beginning to have a real impact on the ground.
The Minister noted however that “while these figures are a positive sign of the success of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan so far, all of the key stakeholders involved in social housing delivery must continue to remain focussed on the overall target of delivering enough social housing supports (50,000 social housing homes) by 2021 to meet the need of all those on the list”.

Minister English added that “the annual SSHA process is really playing a vital role in helping local authorities to properly target the delivery through build, acquisition, leasing, HAP and RAS in their area of social housing supports. A particular issue that is evident from this year’s assessment is that 47% of households on the social housing waiting lists are single person households. At recent Housing Summits, with both local authroties and approved housing bodies, Minister Murphy and I stressed the importance of ensuring that the type of social housing homes being delivered on the ground in local authority areas meet the needs of those on our waiting lists and we indicated that our Department will continue to work them to ensure that they can meet the needs of citizens and households of all types in their local areas.”


Notes to Editors

Link to the full report: https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-housing-assessments/summary-social-housing-assessments-2018-key


1. NB: The key figure reported in the SSHA is referred to as ‘Net Need’ - that is the total number of households qualified for social housing support but whose need is not currently being met. This total excludes households that are:
I. Duplicate applications – where a household has applied to more than one area for social housing, only their oldest application is included in the count.
II. Already in receipt of social housing support, e.g. households currently living in local authority rented accommodation, voluntary/co-operative accommodation, accommodation provided under the HAP scheme, accommodation provided under the RAS, or accommodation provided under the SHCEP schemes.
III. On a transfer list - any household that has applied for a transfer from an existing form of social housing support.
Other figures that have appeared in various media reports over the past year did not exclude these categories of households from their count. Thus, they would have significantly over-estimated the amount of housing need in the country at this time.

2. Detailed results of previous Summary of Social Housing Assessments are available on the Department’s website.
Year No. on List Notes
2016 91,600 Dated September 21st 2016. First of annual SSHA’s. Previous SSHA carried out in 2013.
2017 85,799 Dated June 28th 2017. Decrease of 6.3% on previous SSHA i.e. 9-month period September 2016-June 2017.
2018 71,858 Dated June 11th 2018. Decrease of 16.2% on previous year. NB: Provisional Figure