Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 May 2014
313. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of persons in each local authority area who turn down offers of housing; if the reasons underpinning such refusals are recorded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20319/14]
View answerRegulation 12 of the Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011, made under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, sets down a common approach to refusals by households of offers of social housing tenancies. A household that refuses two reasonable offers of such tenancies in any twelve-month period, other than an offer made under the choice-based letting procedure, will not receive any further offers from any housing authority for a period of one year from the date of the second refusal and the latter period is not subsequently reckonable for the purposes of determining the household’s relative priority for another social housing tenancy. An offer is deemed to be reasonable where the dwelling concerned would, in the opinion of the authority, meet the housing needs of the household and, except in an emergency, is located in an area of choice specified by the household.
The 2011 Regulations also empower a housing authority to adopt a choice-based letting approach to the allocation of social housing, whereby a housing authority considers allocating a particular tenancy only to households that have applied for that tenancy. A household that refuses a tenancy offered under choice-based letting will not be entitled to apply for another tenancy under that system for a period of one year from the date of its refusal. My Department does not collate information on the number of, or reasons for, refusals by households of offers of social housing tenancies.
