Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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99. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he is satisfied that his Department is not aware of the number of social housing tenancy offers refused by approved applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39167/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not routinely collate information on the number of refusals by households of offers of social housing tenancies. Choice-based letting is a method that can be used for allocating social housing in a manner that offers more choice and involvement for applicant households and thereby reduces the likelihood of a refusal. In the context of progressing the introduction of Choice–Based Lettings (CBL) as an allocation system for local authorities, in line with commitments in the Social Housing Strategy 2020and the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness,my Department sought feedback from local authorities on two occasions in recent years on the level of refusals of offers of social housing across the local authority system.

The data received as part of this process only covered limited time-periods. In addition, it was incomplete and was not directly comparable across local authorities. Nevertheless, it did give a general indication of the level of refusals around the country and assisted my Department in the deliberative process. For example, it clearly showed that those local authorities that had introduced CBL had seen a significant reduction in their refusal rates.