The National Housing Strategy for People with a Disability (2011-2016 (extended to 2020)) will come to an end this year. A new national strategy is now being developed. The strategy is about facilitating the provision of housing options and related services to disabled people to allow individual choice and support independent living. 

Do you have a disability, care for a disabled person or work in supporting independent living for disabled persons? If yes, have your say on the plan.

We want to hear your views on the current strategy and what you would like to see included in the new national strategy. In order to get involved today, fill out this 10-15 minute questionnaire. The survey is anonymous and confidential. 

The closing date for this round of consultation is Friday 23 April. A further round of consultation on the drafted aims and objectives will be carried out over the summer and autumn months.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know your views, which will feed into the development of the new strategy.

Information you supply as part of this process will be handled in line with our Privacy Notice (read here).

Take the Survey in English   |   Take the Easy Read Survey   |   Tóg an Suirbhé as Gaeilge

	Survey Documents - English	Easy Read Survey Documents - English	Cáipéisí Suirbhé as Gaeilge
	Click here to download an editable Word version of this survey. this can be filled out and emailed to disabilitystrategy@housingagency.ie.	Click here to download an editable Easy Read Word version of this survey. this can be filled out and emailed to disabilitystrategy@housingagency.ie.	Cliceáil anseo chun leagan ineagarthóireachtas Word den suirbhé i nGaeilge a íoslódáil. Is féidir é sin a chomhlánú agus a chur ar ais tríd an ríomhphost chuig disabilitystrategy@housingagency.ie
	Click here to download and print a PDF version of the survey. This can be filled out and posted to: Disability Strategy, The Housing Agency, 53-54 Mount Street Upper, Dublin D02 KT73.	Click here to download and print an Easy Read PDF version of the survey. This can be filled out and posted to: Disability Strategy, The Housing Agency, 53-54 Mount Street Upper, Dublin D02 KT73.	Cliceáil anseo chun leagan PDF den suirbhé i nGaeilge a islodáil agus a chur i gcló. Is féidir é sin a chomhlánú agus a chur ar ais tríd an bpost chuig: An Stratéis Michumais, An Ghníomhaireacht Tithíochta, 53-54 Sráid an Mhóta Uachtarach, Baile Átha Cliath D02 KT73.

If you would like a copy of any of the above to be posted to you, please contact The Housing Agency on +353 (0)1 656 4100. 

• Watch our video to guide you through the survey.
• Watch this message from Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, Peter Burke TD .

The Housing Agency has been notified of a cyber incident involving one of the engineering consultant companies that works with the Agency on the DCB Grant Scheme.

As part of the DCB Grant Scheme, the Housing Agency works with chartered engineers from an approved framework to help assess applications. These engineers use technical reports and personal data for contact purposes provided by the applicant in their application to a local authority.

The Housing Agency has been informed that one of the participating engineers, Jennings O’Donovan, experienced a cyber incident affecting its IT systems. The Housing Agency’s systems were not involved. The incident appears to be isolated to one engineering company.

Some files stored on the engineer’s system may have been impacted. While no applicants’ financial or banking information has been impacted, the information that may have been impacted includes applicants’ names, contact details, addresses, dwelling technical reports (including dwelling photos) and local authority DCB application reference numbers.

Following notification of the cyber incident, The Housing Agency has taken a number of steps including:

• Working closely with Jennings O’Donovan to ascertain as much information as possible surrounding the cyber incident
• Working closely with our own IT Department and our external cyber security IT consultants to ensure our IT systems were not breached and remain secure
• Working closely with the Data Protection Officer of the Housing Agency to assess the situation and take the necessary steps
• Notified the Data Protection Commission of the cyber incident
• Notified the other Joint Data Controllers i.e. relevant Local Authorities and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
• Notified other DCB stakeholders to be on high alert for cyber incidents

The Housing Agency is contacting only applicants impacted to advise them of the cyber incident. If applicants have not been contacted they are not impacted by this cyber incident. 

No material delays to applications are expected to result from this cyber incident.

The My Home project is an interagency project which works collaboratively to meet the housing and support needs of mental health services clients in the West region.

This paper is a case study of the project and was produced as an action under the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022-2027.

My Home takes a person-centred approach to assist mental health service clients in the Galway/Roscommon Community Mental Health Service achieve independent living in their own homes. It serves HSE West Mental Health Service clients who are on the housing waiting list with either Galway or Roscommon county councils.

It was initially set up as a pilot project, which ran from February 2020 to June 2021, with three main objectives. It aimed to deliver a new housing-led, community-integrated, recovery-focused model in Galway and Roscommon and to provide a comprehensive assessment of the housing and support needs of residents in mental health congregated settings that were referred to the project. It also aimed to provide intensive, individualised psychosocial support to enable a cohort of clients to transition into accommodation suited to their needs and of their choosing.

Under the pilot project, 30 clients were supported to transition to tenancies with supports.

Read the full report here 

‘Embodied Carbon and The Climate Impact of our Housing’ is a report prepared for the Housing Agency by Philip Comerford, an architect in private practice in Dublin and a researcher in UCD.

The housing crisis and the climate crisis are intertwined, and we cannot solve one without addressing the other. Current regulations in Ireland focus mainly on the emissions created by the running of buildings, known as operational carbon and measured through the Building Energy Rating system. Less well understood is the carbon emitted through the construction and maintenance of buildings, known as embodied carbon. 

This research addresses this gap by assessing the embodied carbon emissions of different dwelling types at a range of scales and densities, from individual houses to duplex dwellings and apartments. 

An innovative aspect of the study is that in addition to measuring the environmental impact of dwellings themselves, the surrounding neighbourhood is also considered together with its external landscaping and road infrastructure. 

By gaining an understanding of the climate impacts of current building practices, strategies for a decarbonised housing sector are then proposed. This evidence-based knowledge will provide developers, policy makers and housing stakeholders with a platform to imagine the low-carbon communities of the future.

Read the report here

‘Demographic and Socio-Economic Profile of Applicants for Social Housing and Recipients of Housing Assistance Payment’ is written by Dr Clíodhna Bairéad and Professor Michelle Norris. It examines and compares the profile of households that have qualified for social housing and those in receipt of HAP.

It finds that HAP claimants tend to secure a social housing tenancy faster and in greater numbers than their counterparts on the social housing waiting list. HAP recipients waited an average of 135 weeks before they secured a social housing tenancy, compared to an average waiting time of 286 weeks for social housing applicants.

The most significant influence on HAP claimants’ faster and greater access to social housing is likely due to their household size matching the size of social rented dwellings available. The HAP claimant population contains a higher proportion of larger households (three or more people) compared to households on the social housing waiting list, a majority of whom are one-person households. Most of the existing social housing stock is suitable for larger households.

The report also finds that for a significant minority of applicants, their acute housing needs remain unmet for far longer than the norm. This cohort comprises primarily of working age, mainly male, single person applicant households. Applicants in this category tend to have uniformly low incomes, indicating that they are primarily reliant on social security benefits and rarely have income from employment. The numbers in this category on the social housing waiting list have increased significantly in recent years with the report suggesting this is likely because they wait longer to secure a social housing tenancy due to the lack of suitable housing available.  

The report’s authors say their analysis highlights the need to ensure that the size of dwellings provided better matches the size of households on the social housing waiting list.

Read the full report here 

A report commissioned by The Housing Agency has found that while reference rent systems can help stabilise rents and improve affordability, their success depends on a number of factors including robust data infrastructure and adequate enforcement mechanisms.

Reference Rents: International Perspectives and lessons for Ireland was authored by Dr Joe Frey, Visiting Professor at Ulster University. The report looks in-depth at the operation of reference rents, primarily in Germany and Northern Ireland, to assess their relevance and applicability to the Irish context.

It finds that Germany uses a “Mietspiegel” (Rent Mirror), a detailed database of local rents based on property characteristics, which serves as a benchmark for setting legal rent limits. The Mietpreisbremse (Rent Brake) restricts new rents to no more than 10% above the local reference rent in designated areas. While the system is data-driven and transparent, it faces challenges such as enforcement difficulties, legal loopholes, and high administrative costs. Moreover, landlords often find ways to circumvent the rules, and some withdraw from the rental market.

In Northern Ireland, although there is no formal reference rent system, the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) acts as a de facto reference for tenants receiving housing benefits. However, LHA rates often fall below market rents, limiting its effectiveness. Recent legislation allows for rent freezes and reductions, but implementation has been minimal due to political and practical constraints.

The paper concludes that while reference rent systems can help stabilise rents and improve affordability, their success depends on robust data infrastructure, legal clarity, stakeholder cooperation, and adequate enforcement mechanisms. It finds that Ireland would need to invest significantly in data collection and administrative capacity to implement such a system effectively.

Read the full report here.

On Tuesday 17th June, The Housing Agency was asked to attend the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing along with colleagues from the LDA to discuss challenges in delivering housing. 

The Housing Agency's CEO, Martin Whelan was joined by

• Gwen Perry , Head of Affordable Housing
• Jim Baneham, Director of Delivery and Innovation
• Pat Fitzpatrick, acting Director of Services and Inclusion
• David Silke , Director of Insights and Operations 

Read the opening statement here - JOC Opening Statement

The full video recording of the committee session can be found on the Oireachtas website here - Video

The Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2024 brings together information provided by local authorities on households in their functional area that are qualified for social housing support but whose social housing need is not currently being met. It is a point-in-time assessment of the identified need for social housing support across the country.

Purpose of the Assessment: This is a statutory assessment to count the total number of households qualified for social housing support across the country on 4 November 2024, in order to better inform policy and plan for the delivery of the right types of housing support.

‘Net need’ or the total number of households qualified: This is the total number of households qualifying for social housing support whose social housing need is not being met. All the figures in this report are based on net need. The methodology used to produce these figures is outlined on pages 16-18.

Criteria: Households must be qualified for social housing support. Households currently living in local authority rented or Approved Housing Body (AHB) accommodation, or accommodation provided under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) or the Social Housing Capital Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) or any household on a transfer list, are not included in the total number.

From 1 January 2023, an increase of €5,000 applied to all social housing income thresholds. These thresholds are now €40,000, €35,000 and €30,000 for Bands 1, 2 and 3 respectively (see gov - Social Housing Support: Table of Income Limits (www.gov.ie)- Opens in new window for full list of income thresholds by band and local authority).

Read the full report here - Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2024