Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14
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Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I move amendment No. 21:
In page 19, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following:
“Social housing assessment: transfer and recognition
15. The Act of 2009 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 20B (inserted by section 12)—
“Social housing passport
20C (1) Where a housing authority (in this section referred to as the ‘assessing authority’) has determined under section 20 that a household is qualified for social housing support, and a member of that household subsequently establishes a connection with the functional area of another housing authority (in this section referred to as the ‘receiving authority’), the household may apply to the receiving authority to have the assessment of the assessing authority recognised for the purposes of social housing support in the functional area of the receiving authority.
(2) On receipt of an application under subsection (1), the receiving authority shall—
(a) recognise the assessment of the assessing authority as establishing that the household is qualified for social housing support in its functional area, without requiring the household to submit to a fresh assessment, unless,
(i) the assessment of the assessing authority was made more than 3 years before the date of the application under subsection (1), or
(ii) the receiving authority has reasonable grounds for believing that the circumstances of the household have materially changed since the date of the assessment,
and
(b) where paragraph (a)(i) or (ii) applies, carry out a fresh assessment of the household's eligibility for social housing support in accordance with section 20, taking into account such information as was provided to the assessing authority as the receiving authority considers relevant.
(3) Where the receiving authority recognises an assessment under subsection (2)(a), the household shall be placed on the housing list of the receiving authority with effect from the date on which the household was placed on the housing list of the assessing authority, subject to the application of any scheme of letting priorities made under section 22 by the receiving authority.
(4) A household may appeal a decision of a receiving authority under subsection (2) in accordance with section 20B.
(5) The Minister may by regulations make further provision for the purposes of this section, including provision for—
(a) the form and manner of an application under subsection (1),
(b) the information to be provided by a household in support of such an application,
(c) the circumstances in which a material change in circumstances under subsection (2)(a)(ii) may be found to exist, and
(d) the procedures to be followed by housing authorities in giving effect to this section.”.
This amendment inserts a new section 20 into the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 to provide for a social housing passport. Where a household has been assessed as qualified by one local authority and subsequently attaches a connection with another authority's area, it can apply to have that assessment recognised without a fresh assessment, unless the original assessment is more than three years old or circumstances have materially changed. The housing waiting list position is carried over from the date of original listing, subject to the receiving authority's letting priority scheme.
At present, households that have been assessed as qualifying for social housing and placed on a waiting list in one local authority area lose that position if they have to move to another local authority area. We have all seen examples of this. For many families, it means that if they move over a fairly arbitrary county council border, they are right back to the start on the social housing list. This penalises households that have legitimate reasons to move, whether it be for employment or family reasons or in cases of domestic violence, for example. A social housing passport is a practical and deliverable solution to this problem that would make a real difference to those families.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14