Policies

Allocations and Lettings Policy

All applicants / nominations for housing to Circle VHA are provided by the local authority Housing Allocations Section in the area in which the property is located. It is essential that the applicant is:

registered with and
approved by the local authority as being in housing need.

Registered applicants are firstly required to complete a Circle VHA housing application form before being interviewed by Circle VHA staff. The local authority also undertakes an estate management / Garda check on all nominations. If recent criminal or anti-social behaviour is established this may disqualify the applicant from being offered accommodation. In accordance with the above, all allocations will be made by Circle VHA after agreement has been reached with the Housing Allocations Section of the local authority.

Overall, Circle VHA aims to create a vibrant, balanced and sustainable community of householders. This objective can generally be achieved by an allocations policy that has a balance of family types, an age balance of adults and children, a mixed economic and social profile, a balanced gender and ethnic mix, and a range of units for families, couples and single persons.

Allocations are made according to the following principles:

Suitability of dwelling to meet applicants housing need
Current housing conditions of the applicant
Length of time applicant has had to tolerate unsatisfactory conditions
Applicants’ willingness to support community development
Links to the area in which the scheme is located
Existing housing balance of existing tenants in terms of age of adults / children, working / non-working adults, ethnic balance and the profile of the applicant

How the size of the accommodation offered is determined

Circle VHA aims to maximise the use of its housing stock. The local authority that nominates potential tenants usually determines the unit size that is being proposed for the applicant. This is based on their assessment of the applicant’s housing need.

The general principles used in allocating dwellings are that:

Adults / parents and children should not share bedrooms.
No more than two children should share a room.
Children of opposite gender should not share rooms if they are over the age of nine years.

The above criteria are guidelines only and will be altered to fit individual household’s requirements. Full-time carers may also require an additional bedroom.

Social factors

In an effort to foster good community relations, Circle VHA tries to ensure a mix of household types, in line with the wider community. We seek a balance of employed and non-working households, a balanced age profile of adults in the 20- 60 years age category and of children under five years, five to 12 years, and 12 to 18 years age groups.

In particular, Circle VHA also pays attention to the numbers of residents who may have difficulty settling into a community because of some special need. Child densities and ages of children are also be taken into account when allocating tenancies.

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