Different types of housing tenures explained – social and private housing

Social Housing is an umbrella term for rental accommodation funded by the Government and provided by a City or County Council and by approved housing bodies, often known as Voluntary Housing Associations or Housing Co Operatives. Social Housing accommodation is provided to people who are assessed as being unable to provide for the cost of their housing need from their own resources.

City and County Councils are the main providers of social rented housing. Responsibility for high level strategic planning of social housing is under the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. City and County Councils strategically plan and manage social housing at local level based on the housing need/s of those registered on their Social Housing List.

Applying to your local City or County Council for social housing is an important step in finding the most suitable home for you. When your name is registered on the Social Housing List you can then be eligible to be offered accommodation by a Council, by an Approved Housing Body and you can be eligible to be considered for Rent Supplement payment from the HSE for private rental accommodation. See link to web page on making an application for Social Housing. Click here to get started.

Approved Housing Bodies or Voluntary Housing Associations also provide social housing. They are non-profit organisations formed for the purpose of relieving housing need in the area in which they are based by providing and managing rental social housing.

Approved housing bodies include both housing co-operatives and voluntary housing associations. These housing co operatives and housing associations are established by a voluntary management board and are approved and subsequently funded to develop housing projects by the Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government. The Irish Wheelchair Association is an approved Voluntary Housing Association and has a number of housing projects countrywide.

Projects undertaken by Voluntary Housing Associations may be in response to the housing needs of the elderly, people with disabilities, homeless persons or families and single people on low incomes. Some housing associations may be formed to specialise in meeting a particular housing need, others develop with broader aims. For more information and names of Voluntary Housing Associations see the Irish Council for Social Housing at www.icsh.ie The Irish Council for Social Housing is an umbrella organisation for Voluntary Housing Associations.

Referrals to Voluntary Housing Associations for housing are made by the local City or County Council from their Housing Lists.

Housing Co operatives can provide both social rented housing and housing to purchase. Housing co-operatives are self-help and jointly-owned member/user housing associations or societies. They build or acquire and manage houses or apartments, with various forms of tenure, in response to community housing needs.The members of the co-operative share the responsibility for their co-operative housing enterprises and are represented on a management committees or boards of directors.

The National Association of Building Co-operatives (NABCO) is the umbrella organisation for housing co-operatives in Ireland. See www.nabco.ie or phone NABCO or your local Council for more detailed information on housing co-operatives operating in your area

Referrals to Housing Co- operatives for housing are made by the local City or County Council from their Housing Lists.

If you are not in a position to purchase your own home or rent good quality accommodation from your own resources on the open market, there are a range of Government Schemes available to help people access appropriate and affordable housing.

These various schemes generally administered by City and County Councils and by the HSE can change from time to time so it is advised to check with the local Council or HSE as to their current operation and application criteria of these schemes. Not all Councils will operate all schemes.

Shared Ownership Shared ownership involves the purchase of a new or second hand home with the purchaser initially taking at least a 40% stake and renting the remainder from the local authority. The individual funds their equity or ownership stake through a local authority loan. While they are buying a share in the home, ownership is shared between themselves and the local authority. They make payments on a mortgage for the part they own and pay rent to the local authority for the other part at a rate of 4.3% of the value of the share in the ownership held by the local authority. The rent is increased annually by 4.5%.

To be eligible for the shared ownership scheme, a person or household must:

• Be in need of housing and satisfy an income test, i.e. a single income household’s gross income should not exceed €40,000, while in the case of a two income household, that two and a half times the gross income of the principal earner plus once the gross income of the subsidiary earner should not exceed €100,000 or
• Have been approved for local authority social housing or
• Be an existing local authority tenant or a tenant of voluntary or co-operative housing associations.

Under the 1999 Affordable Housing Scheme, local Councils provide newly built houses to purchase at a discounted price. The Affordable Housing Scheme was designed to assists low to middle income earners who cannot afford to purchase housing on the open market. The properties offered can be purchased, by first time buyers, at prices that are significantly lower than the market value. These properties are made available as a result of a number of Government Initiatives, including Sustaining Progress and Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 – 2002. The scheme is operated by City and County Councils. The ability of the Affordable Housing Scheme to offer discounted prices on new properties has significantly diminished with the economic downturn and the subsequent market drop in all property prices. Conditions of purchase under the Affordable Housing Scheme have been considerably relaxed since the Scheme was first introduced.

Eligibility for the Affordable Housing Scheme is based on the same criteria as for the shared ownership scheme. Contact your local City or County Council for exact details of their operation of this scheme.

Individuals and families on low incomes may qualify for a house or tenant purchase loan from the local City or County Council.

Usually for a house purchase loan the applicant will have to have been refused a mortgage by two private mortgage companies or banks in order to make application.

To be eligible for a tenant purchase loan a person must be a tenant of the Council and they and the property in which they are living must meet the qualifying criteria for a Tenant Purchase Scheme. Usually Councils will not sell apartments and accommodation for older persons.

If you are a Council tenant and want to consider purchasing your home enquire further from the Loans and Grants Department in your local Council.

Rent to buy schemes are often advertised, offered and privately arranged directly with the owners of newly built properties. However there have been some instances of local Councils offering such schemes to first time buyers. Often the Council will advertise these schemes on their web sites.

Enquire further from your local Council.

The objective of the Incremental Purchase Scheme is to provide an affordable route to homeownership for households that are renting social housing or those awaiting the allocation of social housing. The scheme offers social housing applicants the earliest possible start on the path to home ownership for those willing and able to undertake a house purchase. It also provides a vehicle for effective saving for low-income applicants and allows the household to avail of the opportunity to improve their housing circumstances over time. 

The scheme is available only for new build properties identified for sale by the local authority or approved housing body. Conditions of this scheme appear to be similar in some ways to the Shared Ownership Scheme. The scheme however differs from shared ownership in that the purchase price is based on the all-in-cost of providing the house with a discount of between 40% and 60% depending on the buyer’s income and the amount of equity the buyer takes in the property.

Enquire further from your local Council.

Rent Supplement which is administered by the HSE is paid to people living in private rented accommodation who cannot provide or continue to provide for the cost of their private rented accommodation from their own resources. In general, you will qualify for a rent supplement, if your only income is a Social Welfare or Health Services Executive (HSE) payment and you satisfy the other conditions.

IWA information on what supports you are entitled to

Rent Supplement information on citizens information website

Welfare guidelines on WElfare.ie website

Enquire further from your local Council.

RAS or Rental Accommodation Scheme is an initiative by the Government to cater for the accommodation needs of certain persons who are in receipt of rent supplement for more than 18 months and who are assessed as having a long-term housing need.  RAS is a collaborative project between the Department, local Councils, the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Health Service Executive Community Welfare Service. The RAS Scheme is operated by local Councils.

One of the main features of the RAS Scheme is that local Councils in sourcing accommodation for these households make use of the private and voluntary sector and enter into contractual arrangements to secure medium to long-term availability of rented accommodation. If you would like to know more about RAS contact your local Council and ask for the RAS Department.