MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, March 09, 2015
QUESTION NO. 26
QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons
To ask the Chief Executive how many people living in a House/accommodation is considered overcrowding and is there an EU Directive on this? if so to outline this.
REPLY:
The Council’s Allocation Scheme sets out criteria for accommodation size necessary for family composition as shown in the table below. There are currently 8,624 applications on the Council’s housing waiting list.
| Single person or Couple | 1 bedroom |
| Single Parent or Couple with 1 child or 2 children of the same gender | 2 bedroom |
| Single Parent or Couple with 3 or 4 children | 3 bedroom |
| Single Parent or Couple with 5 or more children | 4 bedroom |
Tenant’s, whose family has grown and are in need of larger accommodation can apply for a transfer to alternative accommodation. The Council has currently 768 applications from families on list to transfer to alternative accommodation of these 238 are in overcrowded accommodation as follows:-
| Accommodation size required | Nos. on Transfer List |
| 2 Bedroom | 13 |
| 3 Bedroom | 178 |
| 4 Bedroom | 47 |
This definition of overcrowding can be found under Part IV of the Housing Act 1966 which outlines overcrowding and unfit houses. Overcrowding is determined if the bedroom is less than 400 cubic feet per person sharing and also over the age of 10 if both children are of the opposite sex.
