Social housing - how are people assessed?

[rogeroleary]

I know someonewho is being offered a brand new 2 bed apartment. They have managed to acquire a disability allowance - to say the least it's questionable given that I know her history.

This person is seperated and has a few adult children so is technically the 50% beneficial owner of the family home (one of the adult kids is still resident there with the other parent).

My question is how does my aquaintance qualify for 2 bedroon apartment "in case the kids want to stay over", while at the same time being a beneficial owner of a house?

Roger

 

[Complainer]

I know someonewho is being offered a brand new 2 bed apartment. They have managed to acquire a disability allowance - to say the least it's questionable given that I know her history.

Are you a medical doctor, experienced in occupational health matters?

 

[rogeroleary]

....

no, but I know the person works when the opportunity presents itself. The main thrust of my question however was how come someone who owns property can get social housing and all the things that go along with that ie. subsidised gas / electricity / grants for lots of other things for their new property.


Roger

 

[RMCF]

Perhaps you should report this person?

 

[ajapale]

Are you a medical doctor, experienced in occupational health matters?

Out of interest, is it a "medical doctor, experienced in occupational health matters" who makes the determination whether a person is eligible for disability allowance?

 

[Graham_07]

Out of interest, is it a "medical doctor, experienced in occupational health matters" who makes the determination whether a person is eligible for disability allowance?

Rules on qualifying for DA are here . THe applicants GP makes the initial report and that may then be followed up by a Dept of Social Protection medical practitioner.

 

[rogeroleary]

I actually did contact the agency in question, I didn't name the person in question but the details would have been more than adequate to be able to identify them.

The response I received was something to the effect that the Council determined the criteria for allocating units but if you give us the name we can investigate further.

It could get very sensitive from my end to get in to deep but I am flabbergasted that the checks and balances undertaken prior to handing over property are clearly inadequate.

Roger

 

[ajapale]

... that the Council determined the criteria for allocating units..

So the question is "What criteria does the Council apply to allocate housing units?

and a supplementary question might be "What checks and balances exist to ensure that the allocation process is not abused?"

 

[rogeroleary]

Rules on qualifying for DA are here . THe applicants GP makes the initial report and that may then be followed up by a Dept of Social Protection medical practitioner.

But my real question is how come a person can be allocated property when they are already the beneficial owner of a property? What I'm trying to reconcile is all of the people who are working away to try to hold onto their houses and here is scrounger essentially getting a 2nd property almost free gratis.

Roger

 

[Graham_07]

So the question is "What criteria does the Council apply to allocate housing units?

and a supplementary question might be "What checks and balances exist to ensure that the allocation process is not abused?"

But my real question is how come a person can be allocated property when they are already the beneficial owner of a property? What I'm trying to reconcile is all of the people who are working away to try to hold onto their houses and here is scrounger essentially getting a 2nd property almost free gratis.

Roger

Without in depth knowledge of the specific case I don't know if anyone can answer your question. Is the application genuine and has all relevant information been provided to enable the decision be made by the local authority or is there something underhand going on? The only parties able to investigate this thoroughly would be Dept of SP and the LA.

As far as checks and balances go, there is possibility of abuse in almost every area of social assistance. Whether there is actual abuse in this case isn't clear. There may be very acceptable reasons why this person is entitled to social housing, notwithstanding the family home situation. If you feel that this claim is fraudulent in some way then you are going to have to just report it in full.

 

[Ash 22]

I know of a new estate of houses near us which are council owned and were we thought built for those who were badly in need of affordable housing. One is occupied by a family where one parent has land, another is occupied by an elderly couple who sold their own house and got one of these houses. Don't know how these schemes work but does'nt seem to make sense atall.

 

[ajapale]

Don't know how these schemes work but..

Lets find out!

So the question can be restated: "What criteria does the Council apply to allocate housing units? And specifically what is the situation if a person already owns property?

 

[rogeroleary]

I've heard the person this post was originally about say "I see this as being my second home, for use from time to time"

Roger

 

[Howitzer]

Lets find out!

So the question can be restated: "What criteria does the Council apply to allocate housing units? And specifically what is the situation if a person already owns property?

Each LA has it's own criteria and procedures. Most have points based allocations but the points are genuinely random. If you ever saw the show Whose Line Is It Anyway you get the idea.

Even then all will have back doors where you can just bump someone up the list or assign them 1 million points (again, see Whose Line reference). There is no auditing so whilst there is a veneer of fairness (it's points based!) the reality is that it's completely opaque and open to abuse. Gerrymandering is most often the overriding criteria.

 

[Vanilla]

It's interesting that you say she is a 'beneficial owner' of another property. On what basis do you say this? This term is used, to my knowledge, almost exclusively in legal circles and has a very specific meaning.

 

[Complainer]

no, but I know the person works when the opportunity presents itself.

The conditions for disability allowance do not state that the person can NEVER work. It states that the disability causes a substantive restriction on their ability to work. There are many medical conditions that come and go in severity, such as multiple sclerosis, manic depression and others.

If you believe this person is fraudulently claiming disability allowance, then you should report them to Dept Social Protection.

I actually did contact the agency in question, I didn't name the person in question but the details would have been more than adequate to be able to identify them.

The response I received was something to the effect that the Council determined the criteria for allocating units but if you give us the name we can investigate further.

Is this some kind of cops and robbers game? Why would you not name the person? If you have a real concern, and you have relevant information, then report it. If you aren't prepared to go on the record, it is hard to take your comments here too seriously.

There is nothing like enough information here to judge this situation. Is this a case of rent allowance, or affordable housing, or shared housing, or full council housing? What arrangements has the tenant come to with their other partner about their share in the family home? Unless the OP has intimate details of their financial arrangements, I don't think there is any reason to gripe here.

 

[Graham_07]

It's interesting that you say she is a 'beneficial owner' of another property. On what basis do you say this? This term is used, to my knowledge, almost exclusively in legal circles and has a very specific meaning.

I missed that, interesting. ( us accountants use this term too Vanilla ) Perhaps the OP could elaborate.

 

[rogeroleary]

I meant by this that while the person in question moved out of the family home some years ago their spouse (no divorce) has since passed away so the family home would pass to them (now mortgage free).

R

 

[Graham_07]

This person is seperated and has a few adult children so is technically the 50% beneficial owner of the family home (one of the adult kids is still resident there with the other parent).

Roger

I meant by this that while the person in question moved out of the family home some years ago their spouse (no divorce) has since passed away so the family home would pass to them (now mortgage free).

R

Sorry which is it, separated or widowed?

 

[rogeroleary]

Is this some kind of cops and robbers game? Why would you not name the person? If you have a real concern, and you have relevant information, then report it. If you aren't prepared to go on the record, it is hard to take your comments here too seriously.

Thankfully, in my normal day to day life I don't come across many instances where somebody overtly lets me know they are milking the state. I don't know how many people this person would have shared this information with and although I did attempt to nudge the state body to investigate I cannot provide too much infomation in case the source of the complaint became obvious.

If there was a property whistleblower contact where anonymity was assured I would have no problem using such a facility.

Roger