Galway housing branded 'bewildering' as some wait 14 years, others two

Lack of transparency around how social housing is allocated in Galway city has been described as "bewildering", with councillors questioning why some applicants waiting up to 14 years remain on the housing list while others secure homes after just two years.

That's according to Cllr Frank Fahy (FG), who also queried why there had been only one notification this year under the Choice Based Letting (CBL) system.

“There are people who have been waiting a long time on the housing list – up to 14 years,” he said at this month's meeting of Galway City Council.

“They have been told they are in the top 100 and six months later they are in the top 150. How are they moving down the list? This is a major issue for people who feel there isn't transparency.

“The more I look into it, the more I am bewildered as to how someone could be 13 years (on the list) and someone else waiting two years has a property.”

Officials said there are different categories of need and that these are subject to change.

“There is constantly a steady stream of people coming on and off (the housing list),” officials said.

“There is movement within the list and letting priorities make it easier to understand. We do want people to feel that it is transparent. We include all information in a quarterly and annual report. Different categories of need and different property sizes can be seen in the report.”

At this month's meeting, Cllr Fahy also criticised the operation of the Choice Based Letting system, saying councillors were not being kept informed when properties became available.

“We are not getting information in relation to Choice Based Letting,” he said.

“We were to be notified when something comes up online. I don't recall a notification from CBL.

“If we don't know, how do we expect people who are not computer literate to know? They are being left behind. The queue is being jumped by well-capable people.”

Cllr Donal Lyons (Ind) echoed those concerns and requested that councillors be notified when properties become available through the system.

“To my mind, I am not getting notifications on a regular basis,” he said.

“I received a notification from CBL once this year. There must have been more properties available. Can we be advised when properties are on CBL so that we can advise clients to make expressions of interest?”

The more I look into it, the more I am bewildered.

Cllr Frank Fahy

Meanwhile, Cllr Terry O'Flaherty (Ind) described her frustration with the housing list.

“I know of one person who has been waiting 13 years on the housing list and I cannot get him a one-bedroom apartment,” she said.

Elected members heard that Choice Based Letting is used primarily for large-scale allocations when new housing estates become available.

“If there is a new estate with 40 allocations, we put that on Choice Based Letting,” officials said.

“There was only one this year and that was the only large-scale allocation we had this year.”

Officials also agreed that an information workshop would take place after a meeting of the SPC committee later this month to provide councillors with further details on the allocation process.

Cllr Fahy questioned the claim that there had been only one large-scale allocation this year, stating that “surely there must be more than one”.

Cllr Lyons added that councillors had previously been told that Choice Based Letting would be the only operating system for housing allocations.

“Now there are a number of different ways, it appears,” he said.

Cllr Mike Crowe (FF) said he was satisfied with the current approach to Choice Based Letting.

“If there is a quantity of units, let CBL do it and let staff allocate one-off units,” he said.

“I don't want an email every morning about two houses vacant across the city.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme