Half of emergency accommodation applications to Cork County Council refused or not progressed

In the most recent monthly report from the Department of Housing, there were 418 people accessing emergency accommodation in Cork city and county area. 

Well over half of all applications made to Cork County Council to be assessed for emergency accommodation in the past two years have either been refused or not progressed.

Figures from the local authority show that of the 797 applications received in the past two years, 503 applications did not go ahead or were refused, for a variety of reasons.

Those include that:

• The applicants were living with parents/family;
• Were deemed to have alternative accommodation available; 
• Had been served with a Notice to Quit but may have had weeks/months before the date expires;
• Had sufficient funds to pay for their own accommodation; 
• Or were in a different Local Authority area. 

Some applications were also refused or not progressed because insufficient information was provided.

The Irish Examiner recently highlighted the case of one family who had been on the social housing list in the local authority area and who, when made homeless, were not assessed for emergency accommodation. 

It led to the family being split in terms of living arrangements, with the mother and children couch-surfing with family in Dublin.

When the particulars of that case were put to Cork County Council it said it would not comment on individual cases.

However, the local authority has now provided a breakdown of the number of such applications it has refused in recent years, as well as information regarding the number of people on its housing list who have received accommodation in the same period.

Cork County Council said 2,589 applicants were removed from the housing list in the past two years, of whom 1,223 were successfully housed.

The council said the main reasons for removal of the remainder included that the applicants were ineligible on income grounds; were no longer in need of housing or the application was withdrawn; there was no contact from the applicant or there was a failure to respond to request for further information, or the applicants had left the administrative area.

Just 85 applicants were suspended from the local authority's Choice-based Letting (CBL system) for an invalid refusal of an offer of housing during this period.

"These applicants are not removed from the housing list," a council spokesperson said.

Data from the council also suggests fewer people are expressing an interest under the CBL system in properties in west Cork.

"Countywide 74% of applicants are actively using Choice Based Letting and have expressed an interest in at least one property," the local authority spokesperson said. 

In west Cork this figure is 69%.

In the most recent monthly report from the Department of Housing, there were 418 people accessing emergency accommodation in Cork city and county area. 

In August 2020 the equivalent figure was 400 although overall the figure for both local authority areas taken together has remained consistent, with 419 people accessing emergency accommodation in August 2019.

In a recent report the St Vincent de Paul said the official monthly reports do not include more than 20,000 individuals and families on the social housing list doubling up with friends or family, often known as the hidden homeless, or the more than 3,000 women and children in domestic violence refuges or those living in direct provision.

Focus Ireland Mid and SouthWest Ireland Manager Ger Spillane said there is a severe housing shortage that has impacted on households on lower incomes the most in recent years as well as a critical shortage of affordable rental accommodation, with insufficient supply of social housing.