140 housing offers rejected in the capital

By Fiona Dillon

Nearly 140 offers of social housing have been turned down this year in the greater Dublin region.

Houses being "too far" from applicants' relatives, or applicants not liking the neighbourhood are among the reasons people used for turning down an offer.

The rejections are happening at a time when there are lengthy waiting lists for social housing across the four local authorities in the Dublin region.

Information supplied to the Herald under the Freedom of Information Act reveals that the Dublin City Council region is dealing with some 16,402 applications for social housing support.

The council made 470 offers of social housing this year, of which 402 were accepted 
and 68 were rejected.

Of the properties rejected, 29 were apartments, 13 were houses and 26 were senior citizen housing units.

One applicant has rejected an offer of housing more than once this year, according to the council.

Under the rules, it said that in the event of two refusals of social housing, the council will suspend a household from the waiting list for 12 months.

Small

The council said that in 17 cases, the applicants said the dwelling was "too small."

Meanwhile, two applicants wanted a house, not a flat.

Six offers were turned down because of their location within an estate, and another seven were rejected for not being in the applicant's preferred area.

Fingal County Council has 6,525 on its waiting list.

It made 195 offers this year, of which 178 have been accepted and 17 have been rejected.

Applicants may refuse an offer for a number of reasons, including that the property may be "too far" from a school, or that it's too small for their needs.

In Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, there are 4,633 households on the waiting list for social housing.

Some 86 offers have been made this year - 67 have been accepted and 19 rejected.

Between 2012 and May this year, 332 offers were turned down, with 69 households rejecting an offer more than once.

South Dublin County Council had 8,016 applicants on its housing list up to the end of June.

It had 34 refusals this year.

fdillon@herald.ie

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