Reception and Intregration Agency

Refugees can access housing in the same way as Irish citizens, e.g. by means of owner occupation, renting private accommodation or applying for social housing provided by the local authorities or from the voluntary sector. Applications for local authority housing from persons granted leave to remain are treated in the same way as those from refugees.

Good Practice in Housing Management – Guidelines for Housing Authorities

In 2003 the Housing Unit published (External) Housing Refugees , a set of guidelines for local authorities. The primary purpose of these guidelines is to assist local authorities in responding to the challenge of housing refugees. They are intended to help local authorities to develop strategies and practices for housing refugees, which will achieve the following objectives:

• Achieve value for money for all expenditure on the service.
• Achieve high standards of service which are sensitive to the specific needs of refugees.
• Develop a strategic housing management policy for refugees which implements all aspects of the refugee housing policy and ensures that it is implemented and managed effectively.
• Provide good quality accommodation in locations that are safe and supportive of refugees.
• Assist the integration of refugees into local communities and promote the acceptance of refugees who live on local authority estates among existing tenants.
• Provide refugees with every opportunity to access the full spectrum of local authority housing services.
• Take account of the diverse needs of refugees on the grounds of gender, family status and race.
• Ensure equality of outcomes for refugees in the provision of local authority housing.
• Facilitate and encourage the involvement of refugee community organisations in the consultation regarding the development of local housing policies.
• Establish a procedure to deal with racist incidents on local authority estates.
• Maximise co-operation between local authorities and other organisations and agencies in order to develop a comprehensive local response to the needs of refugees.

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