Housing charities hit out at 'crude threat' to deny emergency housing to some applicants 

Focus Ireland and Depaul criticised the proposal to let councils refuse emergency accommodation to people who have repeatedly refused offers of social housing. Picture: iStock

Housing charities have hit out at “very concerning” plans to strip offers of emergency accommodation from people if they repeatedly refuse offers of social housing.

The proposed changes to the law would see local authorities given new powers to withdraw offers of emergency accommodation in specific cases, including where an individual or household has repeatedly rejected offers of housing.

Responding to the proposals, housing charity Focus Ireland said the plans would not reduce homelessness but instead would increase stress on both parents and children and make the system less humane.

“Government wants to present this measure as reasonable, but in effect it is a crude threat to throw families onto the street if they do not do as they are told by councils,” Focus Ireland director of advocacy, Mike Allen, said.

Focus Ireland's Mike Allen: '[I]n the rare occasions where people who are homeless refuse an offer of social housing, it is because local authorities have not paid sufficient attention to needs that have been assessed in the application process.' Picture: Focus Ireland/PA

“In our experience, in the rare occasions where people who are homeless refuse an offer of social housing, it is because local authorities have not paid sufficient attention to needs that have been assessed in the application process, such as proximity to medical services or disability needs for children.”

Mr Allen said that, before taking such punitive steps, housing minister James Browne should introduce a fair appeals system, as there is currently no process in which an applicant can get a decision reviewed to see if it is reasonable and proportionate. He added: 

The minister and local authorities should be working to create such a fair system, not coming down heavily on parents trying to do the best for their families. 

The Government is also expected to progress legislation around social housing eligibility which would require any individual applying for social housing to be resident here and have a long-term intention to remain.

Dermot Murphy, director of services at housing charity Depaul, questioned the rationale behind what he said is a completely unnecessary move that will “in no way help the housing crisis”.

Migrants coming from International Protection Accommodation Services housing have limited access to social housing with a “significant number of bureaucratic hoops” that they need to jump through, Mr Murphy said.

'Very few migrants in social housing'

Depaul would see “a very small amount” of migrants entering social housing and this would often be due to other factors such as a disability or other specialist needs, he said.

Those who have leave to remain and have a right to go on the housing list should have the right to access the same opportunities as others regardless of their long-term plans, Mr Murphy said.

“Even if the person turned around and said, ‘oh yeah, I’m intending on moving to England or Scotland or Austria in three years’ time’, that does not mitigate their rights for now.”

Where a person who has taken up social housing and decides to leave the country, the house will then be available for the next person so it is unclear what this measure would solve, Mr Murphy said.

“It may cause people to be less inclined to look to social housing as an option for them because it is another bureaucratic thing they have to prove but it won’t solve the issue that there is nowhere for these people to go,” he said.