Around 600 separated parents on the Dublin City Council housing list will be able to apply for increased Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) to allow joint custody following a Supreme Court judgement.
A parent whose children live primarily with their former partner can be assessed as in need of a two bedroom home so the children can stay over with them.
A report to Dublin City Councillors stated that the local authority's Scheme of Letting Priorities should be amended to allow for this.
The judgement handed down last December followed a case taken by a father who was assessed as a single man after separating from the mother of his three children.
The mother was given HAP rate of €1,950 a month and later allocated a four bedroom local authority house.
However the father was assessed as in need of only a one bedroom home and given an enhanced HAP payment of €950.
The father took a case to the High Court which ruled against him but he successfully appealed to the Supreme Court.
Brendan Kenny assistant chief executive with the city council stated that the judgement did not affect how housing was actually allocated as the council can still prioritise those in greatest need.
His report pointed out that the Supreme Court ruled it would be wrong to have underutilised bedroom space while other families remained in emergency accommodation.
However Mr Kenny stated that separated parents were entitled to be assessed as in need of an extra bedroom and he said this would affect HAP payments of around 600 people on the housing list.
He said that applications had to be decided on a case by case basis and the Supreme Court ruled the council should investigate the circumstances of each individual case.
Councillors will be asked to amend the letting scheme at a monthly meeting on 11 May.
