Now three Dublin councils have voted to increase social housing rents for 2026
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLR) has become the third Dublin council to increase social housing rents this month.
In a six-hour budget meeting the council voted on a €313.7m budget for 2026 that will see increases in rents, commercial rates and parking, despite pushback from some councillors.
Dublin City Council (DCC) and Fingal County Council (FCC) also agreed on increases in social housing rents for next year – all councils have cited rising maintenance charges for their social housing stock as a primary reason.
Director of Planning and Economic Development for DLR, Gerard O'Sullivan, said that council management was only proposing a “modest increase” in rent for subsidiary or secondary earners in a household.
Rent for social housing tenants is calculated based on the differential rent system, which depends on the total income and size of a household – this takes into account the size of the family and the income of principle, secondary and other earners in a home.
“Initially we considered raising rates for for primary earners and decided against it – 60pc of tenants will be unaffected by any changes. Out of 3611 subsidiary earners, 1460 will see an increase of just under €3 a week,” said Mr O’Sullivan.
“For a majority of properties, it will just be an increase of just under €7 euro per week – we believe going with this is the most progressive way to go than capping the rent – it will have less impact on those most vulnerable.”
At the meeting, Green Party councillors proposed an amendment to the draft budget which sought to remove proposed increases to social housing rent and car parking charges.
The motion was voted against with 21 voting against and 17 in favour.
Green Party councillor Tom Kivlehan told the Irish Independent that he was concerned that DLR had voted on a larger discount than other councils for the Local Property Tax (LPT) – a tax for property owners – earlier this year.
“DLR gave a full 15pc discount on the LPT – which means we’re starting at a disadvantage,” he said.
“I’m not against people who make more money paying a little more, but the way this will be a blanket change isn’t right – with inflation, some people are going to have their rents doubled or tripled.
“Any household that has a secondary, tertiary or even four earning members will see some tension – it adds pressure within the family.”
Presenting a motion at the meeting, Green Party councillor for Glencullen-Sandyford Oisin O’Connor said this could lead to undue pressure on vulnerable tenants like those with disabilities.
“We are trying to protect people who are surviving on €250 a week, people on disability allowance who will see their rent going up by €4 a week,” he said.
“On the one hand, we have some people here who say a property owner like myself can save around €1.50 a week from the LPT.
"It’s increasing rents for people who are renting from the council while we help property owners save more money.”
On Monday, the Irish Independent reported that DCC voted to increase rents for its 68,000 council tenants.
The primary earner in a household is now set for an 18pc rate on everything exceeding the first €50 a week – a principal earner in a single occupant household earning a net income of €244 a week can expect their weekly rent to rise 10pc.
In Fingal, FCC agreed to increase social housing rent for the first time in thirteen years – it will see rents go up from 12pc to 17pc of a tenant’s assessable income.
For a principal earner making €344 a week, rent will go up from €41 to €58, for someone making €450, it will go up from €54 to €76.
“The initial proposal in FCC was a total increase of social housing rents by 40pc – the council eventually agreed on an increase of just over 20pc,” said Labour councillor John Walsh who introduced a motion opposing the new rates.
The motion was defeated by 21 votes to 18 with some councillors called for an adjournment of the meeting.
“It would have been reasonable to review the differential rent scheme, but it should have been done incrementally over a number of years, not dramatically in one year,” said cllr Walsh.
At a recent housing committee meeting for South Dublin County Council (SDCC) labour councillor William Carey called for the council to “back off” after SDCC’s executive proposed similar rent increases.
"At a recent budget meeting held on November 13, SDCC chief executive officer Colm Ward indicated that he would be seeking to increase rents for council tenants across the board,” said cllr Carey.
"Mr Ward was speaking in anticipation of a report which is nearing completion and is said to provide a basis for strategic adjustments of the differential scheme.
“Households are already under pressure this Christmas period from energy bills and cost-of-living – the fear is that a rent increase will add a lot of strain on these families.”