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DOZENS OF PEOPLE were mistakenly told that they had been successful in their application for a cost-rental apartment in Dublin from an Approved Housing Body.
“They have played with my life and emotions. It’s diabolical,” a woman who received the announcement in error told The Journal.
Respond Housing Agency offers properties at lower than average rents for households that earn under €59,000 per year (€66,000 in Dublin) and do not receive social housing support.
Respond confirmed to The Journal that 61 people received an email in error telling them that they would be getting a tenancy.
The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she was overjoyed when she thought she and her partner had secured an apartment with Respond.
She works full-time but has been living in a shared rental with many other people for five years and can’t afford to move out with her partner, who is in a similar situation.
“We saw the scheme and thought, ‘Great, the government is finally doing something for people in our situation’,” she told The Journal.
The couple received the email earlier this month to say they were being offered a one-bedroom rental property at Lisieux Hall, Dublin 18 for €1,365 per month.
Respond had advertised the development of 67 apartment units online, supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Housing Finance Agency and Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council.
Monthly prices ranged from €1,183 for a studio to €1,591 for a three-bed apartment.
In correspondence seen by The Journal, the cost rental team from Respond said: “Congratulations! Your application for [the property] has been selected in the lottery”.
“Our team will now begin the next steps in verifying your documents and confirming your order”.
After receiving the news, her partner ended his lease for the property he was living in and they began preparing their documents and looking at furniture.
Over 24 hours later, the cost rental team at Respond emailed again to say the previous notification was a mistake.
Respond said the error occurred because their system accidentally ran the lottery twice, causing two separate groups of people to be told they had secured the accommodation.
The lottery is a method used to randomly select eligible applicants.
“While running the lottery for the one- and two-bedroom cost rental homes, an unexpected system error message appeared, which caused the lottery process to run twice in quick succession,” a spokesperson said.
Respond said only the first group chosen in the lottery had actually secured housing with the agency.
“This second lottery is invalid and hence disregarded. A correction email was issued on the 6th of November 2025 clarifying that those not selected in the first draw have been placed on the waiting list,” a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Respond is working closely with their lottery service provider to review the process and ensure the error does not happen again.
“We are deeply disappointed that this error occurred and sincerely apologise to all affected applicants for the confusion and upset it caused,” they added.
The housing agency took more than a fortnight to confirm the details after it was first asked.
The woman impacted by the error said that although she understands it was a mistake, she feels more care should have been taken when it related to something as important as accommodation in a housing crisis.
“I did cry after,” she said. “I rang [Respond] and said you’re messing with people’s lives and emotions”.
There are over 260 registered AHBs in Ireland, and they have over 50,000 homes. The majority of these homes are provided by a small number of AHBs, including Respond.
Approved housing bodies (AHBs) are independent, not-for-profit organisations. They receive state funding to provide affordable rented housing for people who can’t afford to pay rent in the private sector or buy their own homes.
They are regulated by Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority.
In its most recent inspection by the body, Respond Housing Agency was judged to be ‘compliant with improvements’.
AHBs access some private finance to fund some of their development and purchases, they also receive funding from the State through the local authorities under a number of schemes.
The government invested over €200 million in AHBs under different schemes in Budget 2026. AHBs can also avail of the controversial VAT reduction for property developers that the Budget brought in.
Some AHBs operate their allocations system through the local authorities, while some have their own system for allocating housing.
Local Government Sector published a code of practice for AHB nominations in 2022 to streamline the process and prevent delays.
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