New housing scheme pays off as refusals fall dramatically

An overhaul of how houses are allocated to people on the housing list has seen refusals fall dramatically.

Last year, almost 2,000 offers of homes were refused by people on the list, and 136 households from the list were suspended for refusing houses.

But a new scheme where people on the list can express a desire for a certain property is paying dividends.

In South County Dublin, refusals fell from 50% to just 5% where Choice Based Letting was introduced.

Simon Brooks from Cluid Housing Association says the old system wasn't working well.

"Certainly there are good reasons and of course there are bad reasons, maybe some people are being too picky.

"In most cases I think the reason for turning it down are based on the old fashioned way of allocating housing - where you're told this is the house that you're going to be given and you don't have any choice about it."