One in six houses offered by Laois County Council turned down last year
One in every six council house offers were turned down by applicants in Laois last year.
The refusal of more than five dozen council houses was described as “totally unacceptable” in light of the housing emergency.
Figures obtained by Sinn Fein Councillor Aidan Mullins show 63 out of the 383 offers of social housing were turned down for a variety of reasons in 2022.
The grounds for refusal included ‘no back garden’ and ‘don’t like the area’, but the most common reason related to the 'distance from current schools'.
Figures for 2023 show a further 21 houses were declined so far this year out of 204 offers of housing. When compared with 2022, it represents a reduction on the rate of refusals from one in six in 2022 to one in ten this year.
The social housing refusals were made despite the ongoing housing crisis and the growing housing list in Laois where 1,765 are now waiting for a home.
“I recently asked Laois County Council Housing Department to provide me with information on the rate of refusals of social housing offers made by them last year,” explained Cllr Mullins.
“In response I've been informed that, during 2022, the Council made 383 offers of social housing and received 63 refusals.
This represents a 16% refusal rate or one in six. I find this totally unacceptable during our present housing emergency situation,” said Cllr Mullins.
“So far this year, from 01.01.2023 to 30.04.2023 the Laois County Council made 204 offers with 21 refusals or 10.3%,” said Cllr Mullins.
“Under the 2011 LCC Scheme of Allocations, if housing applicants refuse two ‘reasonable offers’ of accommodation, they will not be considered for another social housing offer for a further 12 months. This needs to change,” he said.
Cllr Mullins said the reasons given by applicants for refusal are most often: Distance from current schools (the most common reason), no back garden, don't like the area, no transport and not in preferred town (although three areas of preference are given on the application).
“While many refusals are made for genuine reasons and on valid grounds, and each individual case is different, I feel that others are difficult to accept considering the current housing crisis,” said Cllr Mullins.
“The sanctions for spurious refusals need to be stiffer and I hope this will happen in the upcoming review of the Scheme of Allocations,” added Cllr Mullins.