High rate of social housing refusals

MANY offers of social housing are refused because of unrealistic expectations, while in one local authority area half of all offers are not even acknowledged.

Information provided to the Irish Examiner shows that in many cases an offer of social housing is refused because of the location of the property, specifically because it is deemed too far away from relatives and family support.

However, other reasons for refusal include the property size or type, poor public transport, reservations over the type of tenure on offer and antisocial behaviour concerns.

The data, provided by the four local authorities in Dublin, also shows that in a sizeable number of cases the level of expectation is not met, including where a house may only have one bathroom or is without a back garden.

While there are common themes among the reasons given for refusal, there are also differences among the different council areas.

For example, with South Dublin County Council, one of the main reasons for refusal is that people do not want to live in an apartment. Another reason given was that bedroom size was too small, and that people offered some properties may have heard of antisocial behaviour in that area.

In Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown, the council revealed: “Up to 50% of applicants do not respond to offer letters issued by the council. For those who do, there are a number of reasons cited for refusal to take local authority accommodation, including unsuitability of accommodation (ie, bedsits, or upper-level accommodation); some refuse offers of one-bedroom accommodation as they want two-bedroom accommodation, even though they have been assessed as having a one-bedroom requirement; others refuse due to location, and some state they are refusing due to a perception that the area offered may have links to antisocial behaviour.”

In Fingal, 10% of offers are refused and no reason is given. In 20% of cases the reason for refusal was given as the property not being located in the right area, while 25% of refusals were down to Rental Accommodation Scheme properties, where tenants were concerned they would not have the option to buy and would, therefore, have to move again.

A further 5% of refusals were down to fears of antisocial behaviour, public transport problems accounted for another 15% of refusals and the level of expectation accounted for another 25% of refusals.

Dublin City Council was the only local authority in the capital able to provide figures as to the number of refusals. Between 2008 and 2010 inclusive, it had 383 refusals and the most common reason was the applicant believing the offered property was too far away from relatives. Bedroom size was also cited as a reason.

The data also revealed that in South Dublin County Council the average repair cost of re-let local authority properties was €16,000, while in Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown the annual expenditure on re-let repairs increased from €2.65 million in 2008 to €2.8m in 2010.