New measures approved for council housing in Kilkenny

A range of new measures to address succession rights in local authority housing, as well as tackle anti-social behaviour, have been given the green light.

The elected members of Kilkenny County Council approved the adoption of new tenancy management policies for local authority housing at their July meeting.

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The aim of the new policies, according to the local authority, is to assist the housing office to better manage tenancies and to ensure that households most in need of assistance are prioritised.

At the meeting, held in County Hall, Director of Services, Mary Mulholland, outlined the need for closer oversight of tenancies.

She said one of the reasons for this is the ‘increasing number of complaints around anti-social behaviour where the local authority was not aware that the person involved in that behaviour was living at the address’.

Ms Mulholland informed elected members that the local authority has worked hard in the last two years to increase its activity in dealing with anti-social behaviour.

She said it has become clear that tenancies where the occupants are not known are more difficult to manage.

Every local authority tenant is required to get the consent of the local authority, as landlord, before they allow any person to reside at their home. This is known as an application for ‘right to reside’.

According to the local authority, no person should be living at a local authority tenancy unless named on the tenancy, declared for rent purposes and permitted as a result of a ‘right to reside’ application.

They stated that its the tenant’s responsibility to ensure that the local authority is aware of all persons living at an address.

The newly approved measures will place more of an onus on tenants to keep the local authority regularly informed on the persons living at a local authority tenancy.

Officials also outlined difficulties arising with requests from family members to succeed tenancies following the death of tenants.

According to officials, there has been a significant increase in applications from families and individuals to take over tenancies.

In many cases the local authority is not in a position to agree to this where families are not eligible for social housing, have not been living at the property or other issues arise.

Mary Mulholland told elected members that there are currently a number of cases before the courts around it, and she acknowledged that ‘it does cause a lot of distress’.

Elected members were then informed that the adoption of a policy on succession of tenancy will make it clear for people when a succession of tenancy is eligible and when it is not, ‘to avoid undue stress for people and to allow the housing office to better manage its public housing stock, which must be retained to meet the requirements of households in the greatest need of assistance’.

Ms Mulholland said that Kilkenny County Council remains ‘committed to effectively managing public housing to meet the requirements of our citizens in greatest need of support’.

“Both of these measures will help us to provide a better service for tenants and communities overall,” she told elected members.

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Proposing the adoption of the new measures was Cllr Eamon Aylward.

“There has been lots of discussion around these measures at stategic policy committee level and they need to be brought in,” he told fellow elected members.

That proposal was then seconded by the Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council Michael Doyle.

There were no dissenting voices to the adoption of the policies aired during the meeting.

Kilkenny County Council currently has over 1,500 households assessed as in need of social housing supports, with a further 200 in need of a transfer to more suitable accommodation.