Social Housing

Overview

Wexford County Council, in addressing the need for housing accommodation is obliged to provide rented accommodation which is generally referred to as social housing.

A person may apply to the Council for housing if unable to provide suitable accommodation from own resources. The Area Housing Officer assesses housing applications. To assess an application, reports may be required from a doctor and/or social worker. Each applicant is placed on a waiting list. As houses become available for letting, applicants for housing in the area concerned are listed in order of merit for the purpose of allocating the houses, having regard to the Scheme of Letting Priorities. Each tenant must sign a letting agreement and is given a rent book.

Housing Application Form

Rent

The tenant of a Council house is charged a weekly rent, calculated in accordance with the Differential Rent Scheme. Payments may be made in any of the following ways:

• At Receipts (Cash) Office, County Hall, Wexford, during office hours
• By bank standing order/bank giro
• An Post Household Budget Scheme
• An Post Billpay
• Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS).

Non-payment of housing rent may lead to legal action for recovery of the amount overdue and ultimately to eviction from the house.

In 2002 the Council completed housing schemes in Taghmon (14), Bunclody (4), Clonroche (28), Drumgoold (20), Monageer (6), Hewitsland (42), Castlebridge (14) and single rural houses (12), purchases (10) at a cost of €14m financed by the then Department of the Environment and Local Government, and from Wexford County Council’s own resources. The addition of new schemes to the current rented stock resulted in the Council having 1,706 rented dwellings with annual rental income of €2.3m.

Further details available from:

Housing & Community Development Section,
County Hall,
Wexford.

Tel. (053) 9176274 (Reception)