First hike in social housing rents in 16 years recommended for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLR) has been advised to increase social housing rent for the first time since 2009.
Presenting a report to a housing committee this week, Senior Executive Officer for Housing, James Ryan, said removing a cap for the secondary earners in a household could mean €1.4m in extra income.
Currently, rent for social housing tenants is calculated based on the “differential rent” system, which depends on the total income and size of a household.
Rent is calculated at 16pc of weekly income exceeding €35 from the highest earner, and the same for subsidiary earners – but this secondary rate is currently capped at €20 per person.
DLR’s management has recommended removing the cap and changing rent to a flat rate of 10pc for subsidiary earners.
The council said rent rates have stayed the same since 2009, despite the price of maintenance, retrofitting housing units and funding for heating and boilers going up.
With funding from central government not matching up to what is needed, the council has seen a total shortfall of €4.3m for retrofitting alone.
However, councillors warned against adding further pressure on tenants during a cost-of-living crisis.
“The government is starving local authorities, but it makes no sense to add all that pressure to tenants,” said People Before Profit councillor Melisa Halpin.
“This is the government’s way of under-funding social housing, but its the tenant who has to bear the cost.
“How can we propose to increase rent after looking at the Budget this week where the cost-of-living has only gone up?
“The problem stems from new management companies that the centre is working with who take exorbitant management fees.
“We’re seeing less funding for re-lets, they’re not funding boilers or maintenance work.
“If the income limits to qualify for social housing went up, we’d also see more rent coming based on the current system – that’s something we could be looking at.”
Currently, a single person must have a maximum annual income of €40,000 to qualify for social housing – the limit increases based on how large the household is.
Councillors also worried that the plan would deincentivise secondary earning members of a household from working.
“It is like squeezing blood from a stone to try and get this money from rent if the money does not come from government,” Social Democrats councillor John Hurley said.
“This is a failure in planning from the central government and a lack of investment in social housing.
“[Where] secondary earners in social housing are recipients of social welfare, it will deincentivise those tenants from working or looking for higher paid jobs.”
The council agreed to host workshops and working groups over the coming months to help councillors understand how the new rent structure would affect social housing tenants.