Some Tipperary social housing applicants have ‘better chance of winning the Lotto’ than being housed
People in Tipperary waiting for a one-bedroom social home have “a better chance of winning the Lotto” than being housed, a local councillor has claimed.
Fianna Fáil councillor Siobhán Ambrose made the claims at the February meeting of Tipperary County Council, saying that the local authority needs to focus on adding more one and two-bedroom homes to their housing stock.
At the monthly plenary meeting, councillors across the board raised the issue of single people not being allowed to bid on two-bedroom council properties on the local authority’s Choice Based Letting (CBL) system, with Fianna Fáil councillor Sean Ryan saying that there are many legitimate reasons why a single person may need to bid on a two-bedroom property.
The CBL system allows approved housing applicants from the council’s housing list to bid on properties that meet their needs. Properties are advertised on the CBL website weekly, and applicants can submit an expression of interest, which the council will then consider before making offers of accommodation to the successful applicants.
"Can we just try and get a policy on how, going forward, we can deal with single people bidding on two-bedroom houses?” Cllr Ryan asked.
"I appreciate that it’s a very complex issue, but we’ve all had representations about single people who really want a two-bedroom house, and there are various intricacies in that, for example, people’s marriages may have broken down through no fault, and people would have the children maybe one week and not the other week, and they do need a two-bedroomed house,” Cllr Ryan said.
"I’d like a definite policy on it because people ring me all the time and I have to tell them ‘look, it’s being dealt with’, it’s been going on for a while,” he added.
Backing her party colleague’s calls, Cllr Ambrose said that there is a severe shortage of one-bedroom properties in the county, and that single people should be allowed to bid on two-bedroom properties.
"I do want to concur with what has been proposed with respect to looking at those applying for a one-bed property having the option of applying for a two-bed property,” Cllr Ambrose said.
"Anyone who is waiting for a one-bed property really has more chance of winning the Lotto than getting a house, and that’s the reality, because it is very limiting because of the number of one-bed stock that we have,” she said.
"Everybody’s entitled to have somebody to stay, and I think it’s only fair that people who are approved for a one-bed would also be able to apply for a two-bed property,” Cllr Ambrose added.
In response to the calls, the council’s director of services for housing, Jonathan Cooney, said that the current system is the way it is to try and keep the process fair to all the applicants.
"That is on the works programme for the housing strategic policy committee (SPC) in 2026, but while we’re supportive of it, at the same time, we have to have regard for the fact that we can’t have all one-bed people competing equally with all two-bed people,” he said.
"If you look at our demand, 77pc of our demand is one and two-bed applicants, but we can work through it with the SPC, and it will then come back before yourselves again,” Mr Cooney explained.
There is a possibility that to allow people to bid on properties other than the size they’re allocated to, could put more pressure on the housing stock, Mr Cooney added.
"That could also add to two-bedroom applicants bidding on three-bedroom properties, but when you look historically, the majority of the houses built by the local authority have been three-bedroom properties for the last 80 or 100 years,” he explained.
"In recent times, we are amending this, in terms of increasing the numbers of one and two-bedroom properties, but we need to be conscious of any downsizing scheme that we’re not putting someone into a one or a two-bed when 77pc of our demand require this type of housing, there needs to be a balancing act,” Mr Cooney added.
Another one of the council’s housing representatives said that while the local authority are building one and two-bedroom properties, it will take some time before demand has caught up with supply.
"There was only 30pc of our housing delivery last year that was one and two-bedroom properties, as councillors referenced, for private developers, one and two-bedroom properties aren’t as viable for them, but when you look at the council’s 2026 housing delivery, we’re currently projecting that 57pc of that will be one and two-bedroom properties,” the meeting heard.
"We are building one and two-bed properties, but given the historic under-delivery, it’s going to take time to catch up and meet the shortfall that’s there,” councillors were told.