Crosscare Irish Diaspora Support Project, Safe Home Ireland and the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO), welcome the news that the Government has published its amended Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024, having removed the proposal to include habitual residence criteria from the assessment process for social housing support applicants.
Habitual Residence Condition
The Habitual Residence Condition (HRC) is currently applied by the Department of Social Protection in relation to means tested social welfare payments and Child Benefit. The application of HRC has long been documented as posing a certain level of difficulty for returning Irish citizens, who must often produce large amounts of documentary evidence to satisfy this condition, causing delays in accessing much needed means to support themselves on return. It had been proposed in an earlier version of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 that similar criteria would be introduced for social housing assessments.
Joint Submission
In response to this, our organisations made a joint submission to the Interdepartmental Committee on Diaspora Affairs and the Minister for International Development and the Diaspora, Sean Fleming TD in May 2024. In our submission, we outlined how the inclusion of habitual residence criteria to social housing applications could have a detrimental effect on the welfare of some of the most vulnerable returning Irish citizens in need of accommodation supports on arrival – the majority of whom in our collective experience face existing difficulties with accessing suitable housing supports on return to Ireland. Read our full submission here.
As part of Crosscare’s wider efforts to consult with the Department of Housing on this issue since 2022, the potential impact for returning Irish citizens (particularly those coming home with non-Irish family members) was also referenced as part of a further joint submission made to Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny of Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024.
Positive Engagement
Following positive dialogue with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage’s Social Housing Policy Unit on the points raised as part of our joint submission, we are pleased to see that the concerns raised have been taken on board. Crosscare Irish Diaspora Support Project and our partner organisations Safe Home Ireland and the ICPO look forward to continuing to advocate for the needs of returned and returning Irish emigrants in relation to social housing and access to appropriate and timely supports in Ireland.
Our Policy Work
Our policy work is directly informed by the needs and experiences of Irish citizens engaging with our service and aims to promote solutions. In particular, we advocate for policy reform around common challenges faced by returning Irish emigrants.
Learn more about our political advocacy for the Irish diaspora and previous outcomes here.
