Latest: People refusing social housing not to blame for crisis, says Dublin Councillor
A City Councillor says reports that people are rejecting social housing are a distraction from the real problem.
Figures obtained by the Sunday Independent show that more than one in four social homes in the city were turned down.
Chair of Dublin City Council's Housing Committee Daithi Doolan has rubbished the claims.
"We're not in a crisis because people are refusing homes," he said.
"I would publically ask the journalist to come with me to one of my advice clinics I hold on a weekly basis and hear the real stories, the traumas of people languishing on housing lists for years, people in cramped conditions in emergency accommodation.
"And then we have a splash headline, cheap headline, saying 'one in four rejected'. I don't know how true this is, I've no evidence to back this claim up."
More than one in four people offered a social house in Dublin have rejected it, it has been reported today.
The Sunday Independent reports that of the 1,009 houses offered to people on the waiting list last year, 300 either turned them down or did notrespond to the offer.
The majority rejected the properties because they were "not suitable" for them.
Reasons included the houses being too big or too small, but the paper reports that some have also said they disliked the interior.
