One fifth turn down City Council houses

One fifth of people offered a house by Galway City Council turn it down, according to the latest figures on social housing.

The 21% refusal rate has remained static for a number years, even with the shortage of housing, a housing waiting list of 4,200 and amid a climate of increasing rents.

If applicants refuse a social house twice, they are then moved much lower down the waiting list, which is categorised according to need as well as length of time they have been waiting.

Given the shortage of social housing in the city, the council will shortly begin a review of the reasons for refusal in a bid to determine if the process can be made more efficient.

A spokesman for Galway City Council said the refusal figure was lower than other most other areas – Galway County Council had a refusal rate of over one third while counties such as Cork and Waterford had half the houses offered turned down by applicants.

Applicants are asked for their preference for the east or west side of the city.

“People are refusing for a range of reasons. It could be unsuitability due to location – it may be too far away from their family network or schools,” he explained.

“There is a significant issue around housing need in Galway City – as there across the country – so we are looking at the rates of refusal to see if there is something more that needs to be done, maybe we need to change the allocation process.

“We’re not saying they don’t have a legitimate reason for turning down houses. There are very few areas that are hard to let at this stage compared to what might have been historically.”

Chairman of the Housing Strategic Policy Committee (SPC), Cllr Declan McDonnell, said there needed to be greater enforcement of antisocial behaviour, which was behind some of the refusals.

“A lot of the refusals are down to people who want to live in a certain area – not just east or west – and, that, in my opinion, is not an excuse for turning down a house. If there is antisocial behaviour, I can understand why they would,” the independent Cllr remarked.

“A lot of refusals are by people hoping their favoured area comes up. It’s sad because there is such a scarcity of housing. People further down the list would give their left arm for a chance to rent a social house.

“It could be a case that if there’s one family in the area they won’t go there. It’s location, location, location. But they should think very seriously before they refuse a house because with the local authority finishing just 14 houses by 2017, the amount of houses coming on stream will be far and few between.”

Another member of the Housing SPC, Cllr Niall McNelis (Lab), said the council had to take a hard line when it came to refusals.

“I know of one case when a mother refused a house because it wasn’t on a bus route and her 10-year-old child would have to walk half an hour in the rain to go to school – that’s a legitimate reason. But I know of another that was refused because they didn’t know any families in the area – that’s not acceptable,” he stated.

“You can’t just keeping turning down everything you’re offered. There are real families on the verge of homelessness and it’s taking too long to get offered a house, this is delaying the whole thing.”

There are very few so-called “voids” – houses which need to be overhauled for local authority tenants.

Director of Services for Housing and Social Inclusion, Environment, Recreation and Amenity, Tom Connell, said recently that of the city’s local authority stock of 2,218 units, just 15 were not in a fit state for tenants.

Funding had been secured for 14 new council houses to be built on Ballymoneen Road with approval awaited for another 55 on the site.