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Galway City Council has implemented a number of tough new measures in a desperate attempt to improve the housing crisis in the city.
With recent figures showing that an estimated 3,500 people are waiting on housing in the city, drastic action has long been needed to find suitable accommodation for those on the waiting list, some of whom first applied up to seven years ago.
One of the major areas of concern was the high number of people refusing allocations, with 35 per cent of all allocations refused in 2007. In an effort to reduce this shocking figure, penalties are now to be imposed on anyone refusing 'suitable' accommodation.
Under the new Scheme of Letting Priorities for Social Housing, an applicant's first refusal of an offer of accommodation may result in consideration of their application being deferred for one year. Applicants who, without a satisfactory explanation, refuse a second reasonable offer will have their application deferred for 18 months, while applicants who refuse for a third time will have their application removed and cannot re-apply for one year after the third refusal.
However, there is to be an exception for families with children who refuse to accept apartment accommodation.
Requests for housing in certain areas of the city are also to be scaled back, with applicants now only given a choice between the East and West side of the city. Previously, those on the list were allowed to request houses in areas such as Knocknacarra and the city centre.
While the majority of councillors welcomed the new measures, Cllr Colette Connolly, who is chairperson of the Housing SPC, said she still has a number of concerns.
"The real issue for applicants is that it is up to city officials to decide what constitutes a 'reasonable offer of accommodation'. This effectively results in a lottery system, as a family of three could be offered an apartment on Monday and another family a house on the Friday, depending on what accommodation becomes available."
"This type of accommodation letting is discriminatory. Finally, it is time to reject apartment style dwelling for families. The shortage of land banks has effectively been created by developer driven policies of the government and families should not be asked to pay the price for such greed," she added.
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