Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion

1:30 pm

Photo of Eoin Ó BroinEoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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On a point of clarification. When somebody is in homeless accommodation, emergency offers of accommodation are not made on the same basis, so that very often somebody will be offered accommodation not in their area of preference but so far away from their area of preference and family support networks that it is not an appropriate offer. That is an important distinction to make. Increasingly, and my own local authority has two areas of choice, so it is not like people get to choose a housing estate, one has a choice between either north or south of the Naas Road. That is why for example there are occasions where somebody is in emergency accommodation, they get an offer of accommodation but when one looks at the details of the family and the offer, it is wholly inappropriate. It is not that they are choosing to turn something down, it does not meet the complex and important needs in family support networks of those individuals.