Tipperary County Council has set out a new procedure for staff to follow in an effort to deal with the increasing number of Notices to Quit being served on Housing Assistance Payment tenants.
Tipperary County Council is supporting over 1,800 people with a Housing Assistance Payment.
The new procedure is intended to deal with this situation as early as possible and thereby reduce or avert the need to use emergency accommodation.
Under the new procedure clients are asked to notify the Housing section of their Notice to Quit(NTQ) as soon as they receive it.
This will lead to engagement with the Council’s HAP Placefinder and over an extended period of time the Council will support the person as they seek accommodation in their area of choice or by using the Choice Based Letting system.
Ultimately the Council will also seriously consider an allocation outside of the CBL process to the client – while trying to assign within their area of choice, but other offers which are suitable and which come up outside their area of choice may also be offered.
If the client rejects the offer, then emergency housing supports to be withdrawn as accommodation provision has to be prioritised even where it is not in a person’s area of choice according to the Housing Section of Tipperary County Council.(This would only be after an extended period of engagement of at least 6 months)
The proposal has been sharply criticised by Cllr Seamus Morris who said that people need to be accommodated in their area of choice and that the councillors had no advance consultation on the new procedure.
