Engagement with choice-based letting is up to 69% in Tipperary.
At this month’s meeting of Thurles Municipal District, Councillor Sean Ryan queried about the service as previous engagement percentages were sitting at around 50%.
Deirdre Flannery of the Housing Section said this increase is due to more correspondence with applicants.
She also says that council staff are actively liaising with people who find the portal difficult to use and showing them how to use the system.
Councillor Ryan welcomes the news, but still has concerns.
“It’s good to see participation levels have improved. The one worry and one concern I have is that there is not enough one-bed homes for people looking to access one-bed homes, and, therefore, when they go on CBL and people are looking for one-bed homes, sometimes they don’t see much on it and they’re not allowed to bid on two-beds. I have asked that it be changed on the CBL portal and that single people are also allowed to bid on two-bed homes. I’m told that it will be discussed at the Housing SPC meeting in May.”
The Fianna Fail councillor says more one-bedroom houses combined with an option to bid on two-bedroom houses will also likely result in fewer first refusals.
“I do know that the council are building more homes for single people. It was outlined by the engineer today that there are works taking place in Templemore and Roscrea where houses are specifically built for single people. What I’m asking is that, in tandem with that, they also be allowed to bid on two-bedroom homes on the CBL system. It is important that we increase participation rates on CBL and get as many people as possible to use the system because it is a good system when it works right. It streamlines the council’s resources as well and makes sure as many people as possible apply for a house. Generally, you don’t have as many first refusals on a house when people use the CBL system.”
