Affordable housing interview

marygold said:
We applied for affordable housing (SDCC) last month and got all documents back with letter saying we had no enough money for a deposit... :mad:
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Are we talking hundreds or thousand you had saved? I dont want you to give exact figures unless you want to yourself Seems bizarre they usually only say 3% or something like that of the price of the house??
 
Sorry to hear about your predicament. I do think each local authority have their own set of rules. I have an affordable house almost 4 years. I think the main criteria are; income level, permanent job and points.
I was never on a waiting list - I lived at home. I had no savings and no deposit. However I do have a son and a good job. Most of the houses in my estate were allocated to young families - only two young couples with no kids. I am the only single parent in the estate. I never contacted any councillors as I really didn't think I would get one. I would not give up - keep on at them. I do believe its a lottery - and some of "who you know" Don't give up try find out exactly why were you not selected. They should also have a panel in which your name is on - and may be eligible for another scheme in another location. Sorry I'm not much help.
 
Is it necessary to go for an interview or you can be offered one of these homes straight away?
Or maybe it depends on what Council are you Dealing with?
I know somebody who's living in one of these apartments now and never had an interview. This was with Dublin City Council.
 
The lack of transparency in our civil service is soul destroying. I have been mailing and phoning them to find out under what criteria I failed. All indications are it was on the deposit as my SSIA is not 'readily available'! But this is ludicrous! It is available. I've been damned responsible over the last four years saving into it. I have made an appointment with FLAC and I have mailed various politicians. If I failed on fair grounds I would hold my hands up, but this just guts me. Why have local councils at all if all the do is shady work behind closed doors? Does anyone know if I am fighting a lost battle here, or should I keep pushing? It is taking a lot out of me.
 
BobDobalina said:
The lack of transparency in our civil service is soul destroying. I have been mailing and phoning them to find out under what criteria I failed. All indications are it was on the deposit as my SSIA is not 'readily available'! But this is ludicrous! It is available. I've been damned responsible over the last four years saving into it. I have made an appointment with FLAC and I have mailed various politicians. If I failed on fair grounds I would hold my hands up, but this just guts me. Why have local councils at all if all the do is shady work behind closed doors? Does anyone know if I am fighting a lost battle here, or should I keep pushing? It is taking a lot out of me.
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Please keep fighting and pushing...you need to know for sure why you didn't get one. Tell them you want to apply again and need to know.
In addition if you have the SSIA coming on do you think you might be able to get a mortgage or are you in a city where the house prices are demented? I have applied for one of these affordable houses (I know I'm not going to get one despite the fact I am renting 14 years!!!). I became disillusioned after the interview as i feLT they indicated they wanted families in these houses. On Wednesday last in a depressed state I went to the Bank and asked them for a mortgage.Today I got my letter to say Im approved 235K. I live in North Co Cork so I should get a appartment for that. The main reason Im now not a fan of the affordable housing now is that you can't sell these houses for ten years. What would I do with it if I wanted to move or when Brad Pitt invites me to move in??
Also wouldn't be able to re mortgage either....which would be important I think for someone who has a few debts at the moment!
I have no savings...no SSIA...only debts of about 17k yet the Bank gave me 235K. HAve you tried for a mortgage?
 
If you like I can PM you bank details. Its at 3.1% which is pretty good and they told me if I find somewhere cheaper they will match it!!!
 
Judybaby73 said:
I have no savings...no SSIA...only debts of about 17k yet the Bank gave me 235K. HAve you tried for a mortgage?
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Are you an accountant/doctor or some other "preferred" profession in bank loan terms?, am very suprised by this.

If not, i'd love to know which bank this was (PM me if you don't want to say here).

I earn about 40k a year but have no savings to mention (about 1k in the bank) and pretty much had given up on the idea of ever owning my own place.
 
Hey Judy

Where abouts in N. Cork are you?

The house prices in the N. Cork area have gone through the roof as they say!

What I cant understand about local council and it truly has me perplexed, is the way they give out affordable housing to couples who have a house already, in some cases both partners have received a house each! This I assure you has happened.

I can verify three seperate couples in my area where this is the case, sure they're only too delighted to avail of the house's - live in one and have foreign nationals paying rent on the other.
You may come back with replies stating that by law they're not allowed to rent out the house - It plain and simple does not happen!

Personally I think its disgraceful when other couples with young families would give thery're right arm for an affordable house, yet instead both parents have to work morning, noon and night to pay back a huge mortgage!

I know that the "affordable house's" in Mitchelstown are now 215K!
Affordable to who?

I think the so called "affordable housing" scheme has failed these people miserably.

WP
 
WillyPat said:
What I cant understand about local council and it truly has me perplexed, is the way they give out affordable housing to couples who have a house already, in some cases both partners have received a house each! This I assure you has happened.

I can verify three seperate couples in my area where this is the case, sure they're only too delighted to avail of the house's - live in one and have foreign nationals paying rent on the other.
You may come back with replies stating that by law they're not allowed to rent out the house - It plain and simple does not happen!

Personally I think its disgraceful when other couples with young families would give thery're right arm for an affordable house, yet instead both parents have to work morning, noon and night to pay back a huge mortgage!
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Have you reported these frauds to the relevant authorities?
 
WillyPat said:
I can verify three seperate couples in my area where this is the case, sure they're only too delighted to avail of the house's - live in one and have foreign nationals paying rent on the other.
You may come back with replies stating that by law they're not allowed to rent out the house - It plain and simple does not happen!

Personally I think its disgraceful when other couples with young families would give thery're right arm for an affordable house, yet instead both parents have to work morning, noon and night to pay back a huge mortgage!

I know that the "affordable house's" in Mitchelstown are now 215K!
Affordable to who?
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That it is a disgrace! Totally illegal too (obviously) I am amazed houses (affordable) in Mitchelstown are so expensive! Are you sure thats the cost value or their market value?
 
Judybaby73 said:
The main reason Im now not a fan of the affordable housing now is that you can't sell these houses for ten years. What would I do with it if I wanted to move or when Brad Pitt invites me to move in??
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Hmmmm. Perhaps I'm thinking of Part V Affordable Housing, but I believe you can sell any time you like. The downside is that the local authority will take the same percentage of the sale price as the percentage by which they subsidised you in the first place. Although we may prefer if it were otherwise, that doesn't seem unreasonable.

A sale in the first 10 years incurs a full clawback. For the remaining 10 years out of 20, the clawback reduces proportionately by 1/10 after each completed year.
 
WillyPat said:
Hey Judy

Where abouts in N. Cork are you?

The house prices in the N. Cork area have gone through the roof as they say!

What I cant understand about local council and it truly has me perplexed, is the way they give out affordable housing to couples who have a house already, in some cases both partners have received a house each! This I assure you has happened.

I can verify three seperate couples in my area where this is the case, sure they're only too delighted to avail of the house's - live in one and have foreign nationals paying rent on the other.
You may come back with replies stating that by law they're not allowed to rent out the house - It plain and simple does not happen!

Personally I think its disgraceful when other couples with young families would give thery're right arm for an affordable house, yet instead both parents have to work morning, noon and night to pay back a huge mortgage!

I know that the "affordable house's" in Mitchelstown are now 215K!
Affordable to who?

I think the so called "affordable housing" scheme has failed these people miserably.

WP
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Hi Williepat,
I live in a large town in North county cork...does that narrow it down for you? You have an idea where? Are you also in north cork?

Anyway Mr. WilliePat and everyone else on this forum... I also know of a couple that applied separately for an affordable house and both got one. The "girlfriend" has now rented out her house to her brother and his mates while she hooks up with her "boyfriend" who also has an affordable house! Would I report them to the authorities?? NAh ...couldn't be assed! It still wouldn't mean I'd get one (selfish Judybaby73) and anyway ....it looks like these people are affiliated greatly to a political party and that's how they got one ...EACH! It's who you know for sure! Bloody awful.
 
MamaMia said:
Hmmmm. Perhaps I'm thinking of Part V Affordable Housing, but I believe you can sell any time you like. The downside is that the local authority will take the same percentage of the sale price as the percentage by which they subsidised you in the first place. Although we may prefer if it were otherwise, that doesn't seem unreasonable.

A sale in the first 10 years incurs a full clawback. For the remaining 10 years out of 20, the clawback reduces proportionately by 1/10 after each completed year.
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Yes MamaMia you are right...
If you sell your house within 20 years, you will have to pay the local authority a percentage of the proceeds of the sale. This percentage is expressed as the percentage difference between the sale price and the market value of the house. This amount will be reduced by 10% each year after you have owned your home for 10 years. So, if you sell your home after 20 years, you will not have to pay anything to the local authority.
(I got that from the oasis website!)
 
Judybaby73 - I haven't applied for a mortgage. I would have assumed I didn't earn enough to get me the €260+ needed to buy a place these days! I will fight on on this, but I may PM you at some stage for those bank details if it looks like I am getting nowhere. I have booked free legal aid for this week just to see if they have any advice for me. Also, one of the local county councellors is going to look into the matter for me. Fingers crossed.

The unfortunate thing is that I have been on the list for 3 years and less than a dozen houses have come up during that time. I fear that if I don't move on this real fast then I may give up on it as I am not willing to wait another 3 years to go through the same process of hope and despair. Not to mention more wasted holidays for interviews.

One remarkable side effect of all this is that I find myself unable to listen to the news any more as I am so disillusioned with the way the country is run. I would laugh if I didn't care about it all, but seeing as how I am currently stuck in this mire- pathetic political, union and media games only serve to make me ill.
 
>>The "girlfriend" has now rented out her house to her brother and his mates while she hooks up with her "boyfriend" who also has an affordable house! Would I report them to the authorities?? NAh ...couldn't be assed! <<

You've been posting a lot about trying to get a house, yet when you see this sort of thing you won't report it. That's a big help to everyone . . .not. People doing this should be reported. It's the kind of thing we all complain about . . . yet won't report to authorities. Typical.
 
annR said:
>>The "girlfriend" has now rented out her house to her brother and his mates while she hooks up with her "boyfriend" who also has an affordable house! Would I report them to the authorities?? NAh ...couldn't be assed! <<

You've been posting a lot about trying to get a house, yet when you see this sort of thing you won't report it. That's a big help to everyone . . .not. People doing this should be reported. It's the kind of thing we all complain about . . . yet won't report to authorities. Typical.
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I wouldn't report it...it's too common! I'd be on the phone all day AND yes I have been posting alot about trying to get a house (Im entitled to).As you might be aware AnnR I know I am not going to get an affordable house so have put the ridiculous idea out of my head. Also WilliePat has said he knows of this happening too. It's a common practice. Why would you report it as you'd only be reporting "them to themselves" if that makes sense! Please be a bit kinder in your messages AnnR .I'm quite sensitive ...NOT!
 
There appears to be quite a bit of cynicism here as to how the allocation of properties is determined. Well here's broadly how it works.

Points are allocated to applicants based on the information supplied on their application forms. The weighting of points for one thing over another is completely arbitrary and brings to mind the points allocation on 'Whose Line is it Anyway'.

When all points have been totalled it is possible, by design, to then allocate more points (any number) to any given applicant. Ostensibly this is for hardship cases where there is maybe something which isn't covered on the original form.

The applicants are then ranked by their points allocation. At this point an applicant at the bottom of the list can again be bumped up to the top, ostensibly for hardship cases or whatever.

It's completely transparent because at any time you can show that the people with the most points were allocated the housing. There is no one contributing factor to your application failing, more a combination of all factors.

Within Cork and Kerry this all works off an Intranet based application called H.O.M.E. Each County Council has it's own version of this application. By year end 2005 they were all meant to be using the same system centralised within the LGCSB (Local Government Computer Services Board) but for some reason the local Authorities have been reluctant to give up this area of control.
 
madisona said:
Do you know which factors are weighted more for points. e.g length of time on list, age, family circumstances, savings etc. Is it better to have low earnings or high.
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Like I said, it's pretty random. Unless you tick all the boxs it really is hard to be assured of getting to the top of the pile (10 kids, from the area, renting, low income, not too low, savings, not too much savings, ill)


madisona said:
Could a council offical add "hardship" points to a friends application or do so following representations by a counciller?
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I suppose so.

I should note that the Dublin Local Authorities have a completely different system, more akin to a lottery.
 
madisona said:
There may be nothing illigeal here. If they both applied seperately as single people and they were both first time buyers.
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My understanding is that one of these people would now be classed as an investor once they started renting the property. I'm not clear on the eligability criteria, but (s)he would certainly be liable for clawback stamp duty on the property. Non payment IS illegal.
 
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