High numbers refuse social housing allocation

Cavan County Council is battling against rising numbers on its social housing waiting list, after a total of 35 applicants turned down properties offered to them in the first six months of this year.
That’s almost as many refusals recorded by the local authority for the whole of 2014 (38); while 1,146 people remain on the council’s housing list.
Director of services Joe McLoughlin told elected members at their July monthly meeting last week that the figures suggest that applicants on their waiting lists seem happily homed in the private sector via the rent supplement scheme. And with 13 offers of housing still waiting reply, the number of refusals for the year to date is likely to rise even further still.
“It’s not as if we’re offering houses in places people don’t want. An offer of a dwelling is deemed reasonable when the dwelling is considered suitable for the needs of the applicant in an area of their own choosing,” he told the meeting.
Despite the rejections, Mr McLoughlin said that the local authority is still on course to match, if not better, the number of people rehoused in local authority housing this year compared to last.
With two refusals per year allowed before the applicant loses their right to rent supplement, Mr McLoughlin said he hoped the rule might force the hand of some people simply entering the housing waiting list to avail of the welfare assistance payment.

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