People who turn down offers of social housing can have very serious and appropriate reasons.
That's according to Wayne Stanley, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, who was responding to figures showing over 5,000 offers of social housing were refused in the past two years.
The analysis from the Irish Independent shows a variety of reasons given including the houses being too small, lacking in garden or parking space, lack of storage for motorbikes or being located too close to an ex-partner.
Kildare had the highest rate of declined offers, with 38% of homes refused.
Mr Stanley told Newstalk Breakfast people can have genuine concerns.
"Houses are turned down for a variety of reasons," he said.
"What we would see, for the people that the Simon Community is engaged with, is that people are doing it for genuine reasons.
"In fact, within the system, the local authority will make an adjudication on whether the reason that the person has given is reasonable.
"The way that the system is set up is that the local authority will reach out to people who may be been on the list for 10 years, and make the an offering.
"Obviously their situation can have moved on - some of the reasons.... such as being too close to an ex can be a case of domestic violence.
"There can be very serious reasons and appropriate reasons".
'These houses don't disappear'
Mr Stanley said the houses that are refused are immediately offered to someone else.
"A social housing allocation is your home for the long-term, so people want to find an appropriate sustainable home," he said.
"In the context of the housing crisis, I think people can look at this and see, 'Were people turned down accomodation for some reason?'
"I think the other thing to say is these houses don't disappear.
"They will immerdelty be offered to somebody else, so it isn't homes that are lying idle".
'They must have genuine reasons'
Mr Stanley said he believes any such a refusal is not done lightly.
"If people are turning down such a strong offering, they must have genuine reasons for doing it," he said.
"Maybe when you're filling out a form or ticking a box, the reason put down might - in the abstract - seem strange.
"There's a consequence if a person makes two two unreasonable refusals: they're suspended on the housing list, or taken off it altogether.
"So people don't do it lightly," he added.
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