To apply for community housing, you must first apply to the Department of Housing and be assessed against the eligibility criteria.
Once the Department has approved your application, you can then approach a community housing provider to be placed on their housing register. The waiting times vary between community housing organisations but are about the same as for Public Housing in the same area. The Office of Community Housing can give you information about community housing providers in your area.
When applying for Public Housing, you are given the option to express an interest in community housing, while remaining on the Housing Register for Public Housing. If you are happy to be offered a community housing property, you should express an interest at this point.
A community housing provider will often select a new tenant for one of its properties from its own register. On occasion, providers will ask the Department of Housing to refer people who have expressed an interest in community housing. In these instances, your details will be forwarded to the provider for assessment.
For more information on how to apply for community housing, please read the Applying for or being referred to community housing Fact Sheet.