Council threat to report Cork family to Tusla if they refused offer of accommodation 40km away was ‘inappropriate and unreasonable’

CORK County Council told a homeless family who didn’t want to move 40km that they would lose their emergency accommodation and would be reported to Tusla, treatment found by the Office of the Ombudsman to have been “inappropriate and unreasonable”.

The family lived, worked, and went to school in one area in Cork for around 10 years. They became homeless when their landlord decided to end their lease and sell the property. They were provided with emergency accommodation by Cork County Council.

About two years prior to this, the family had been approved by the council for social housing. The family had selected an area where both parents worked and their children had attended school, but the council offered the family a house 40km away.

The family felt they could not accept the offer due to the length and cost of their commute to work and school, and because of their ties to the local community. The family were then told by the council that if they did not, they would lose their emergency accommodation and would be reported to Tusla for putting their children at risk.

The council then gave the family notice to leave emergency accommodation, a communication which came a week after the birth of the family’s new baby.

‘Completely inappropriate’

Investigating, the Ombudsman found it was unreasonable for Cork County Council to withdraw the family’s emergency accommodation because they had rejected the offer of housing. The Ombudsman said the tone of the communications from the council to the family was “completely inappropriate, was far below the standard expected from a public body dealing with a family in need, and fell short of the council’s public sector duty in relation to human rights”.

The Ombudsman said it was unclear why the family had been offered a property 40km from where they worked and attended school when there were properties soon to be available in their area.

While the Ombudsman’s investigation was ongoing, the council provided the family with details of a smaller property, which, given the number of children in the family, was not big enough to house them, and which, the council said, it was not recommending. No other suitable property was available and the family’s emergency accommodation was due to be withdrawn.

The Ombudsman found it was completely inappropriate of the council to provide the contact details for this property, while recommending that it not be accepted, and at the same time ending the family’s emergency accommodation within a few weeks. The family felt they had no alternative but to accept the offer of the smaller property.

As a result of the Ombudsman’s investigation, Cork County Council apologised to the family for the tone of the communications and accepted the family should be allowed to break the lease agreement given the property they were living in was not suitable. The council did not accept that its initial allocation offer was unreasonable. However, it provided further assistance to the family and located a suitable property closer to their employment and schools.

Last year, the Office of the Ombudsman received 455 complaints about public services from people living in Co Cork, a 30% rise on 2022.