Waterford Council reinstates woman's time on housing list following Ombudsman investigation
Waterford Council reinstated 'Mary' on the housing list following the Ombudsman's investigation. File pic.
An investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman into a complaint from a Woman in Waterford in relation to her and her family being removed from the local authority housing list led to her being reinstated.
The complaint was based around Waterford Council's refusal to reinstate family’s correct length of time on housing list.
Summary details of the matter were contained in the annual Office of the Ombudsman report for 2024, which was published on Wednesday, June 18.
In the report it was noted that 'Mary' and her family had been on the Waterford County Council housing list for over 10 years.
Mary’s income increased in 2022, when she took on some extra shifts to cover some additional expenses.
As a result of the increase in her income, the family were removed from the housing list.
Later Mary received a notice of termination of her tenancy and she and her family were left without housing.
They were then forced to stay with friends or family on a temporary basis.
A few months later the social housing income limits were increased and Mary and her family were considered eligible for social housing again.
However, the Council refused to reinstate the family’s time on the housing list. As a result Mary complained to the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman engaged with the Council and highlighted the provisions of Housing Circular 48/2022 which provides: 'In the interests in fairness, any such applicants removed from the social housing waiting list between 18 November 2021, and 31 December 2022, for exceeding the income limits but who now qualify under the new thresholds, can retain the time already accrued, or which would have been accrued, had they remained on the waiting list.'
It was also noted that formal direction on the matter was set out in enclosed Ministerial Guidelines.
As a result of the investigation into the matter the Ombudsman requested that the Council reinstate Mary and her family’s time on the housing list.
The Council agreed to reinstate Mary’s time on the housing list.
The Council also reviewed other potentially impacted applicants and confirmed that no other housing applicants were impacted by its misunderstanding of the circular.
