Mutual swaps can reduce local authority housing lists, Cork councillor says

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Cork County Council should facilitate a system of mutual swaps between council tenants who want to move to a bigger or smaller house, a councillor has suggested, saying the innovation would help to reduce the housing list and improve housing allocation.

Carrigaline Councillor Ben Dalton O’Sullivan put forward the idea in a motion at a recent meeting of Cork County Council. He said the council currently has 6,726 applicants seeking housing support with a sizable portion of these being transfer applicants – people seeking out of necessity to move into a bigger or smaller council house.

The current process for meeting the need of a transfer applicant is that they are given access to Choice Based Lettings (CBL) and from these they express interest in vacant and available council dwellings.

CBL is a system used by local authorities to allocate social housing that gives approved applicants more control over where they live by allowing them to "bid" on available properties. Eligible housing applicants can view vacant social housing properties online and express interest in those that meet their needs and family size. Properties are then offered to the applicant with the highest priority according to the council's housing list.

“I am asking Cork County Council to pioneer and lead out on trial a system which could potentially significantly reduce the housing list by satisfying the needs of some of our transfer applicants. I am not asking for a new system to be implemented. This facility already exists but the onus in on the applicants to identify themselves,” Cllr Dalton O’Sullivan said.

“The system which I am asking the council to lead out on is to have a member of staff in each [council] division simply examining the housing transfer files and identifying potential swaps which could be made, contacting the tenants and progressing it.”

He gave the following example: “Mary is in a two-bed council house and approved for a transfer for the last four years to a three-bed. Tom is in that three-bed house. He's approved [for a transfer] for two years, which would suit Mary's needs to downsize to a two-bed.”

The Independent councillor said the benefits would include freeing up housing being offered on CBL to first-time applicants with no homes. “Every swap facilitated resolves two cases. It increases our allocation figures by two and reduces our housing list by two. And no doubt would be welcomed by the applicants and set good example and initiative for local authorities nationwide,” he said.

The councillor is calling on Cork County Council to trial the idea for a year. The motion was seconded by the County Mayor, Cllr Mary Linehan Foley. The idea will now go forward to the council’s Housing Strategic Policy Committee for further discussion.