Sligo landlords paid €7.5m by County Council last year

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

Figures released by Sligo County Council have revealed the local authority paid landlords €7.5m under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme, Rental Accomodation Scheme (RAS) and the Long Term Social Housing Leasing Scheme last year with Cllr Declan Bree insisting, “It is time to stop subsidising the private sector and start investing in public need.”

Cllr Bree was speaking to his motion at the May meeting of Sligo County Council which asked for a report to be provided indicating the sum of money paid to private landlords under the HAP, RAS and LTSHLS schemes in 2025.

Addressing the meeting, Cllr Bree criticised the level of spending detailed in the report furnished to him saying, “The details contained in this report again confirms a familiar pattern: huge sums of public money are being funnelled into the pockets of private landlords, rather than being invested in local authority housing.

The report indicates that last year this Council paid landlords over €4.5 million under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), in addition to €2.3 million under the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) and almost a half a million Euro under the Long Term Social Housing Leasing Scheme. A total of almost €7.5 million. This is a massive transfer of public money to the private sector.”

Cllr Bree referenced the Sligo spend saying such payments to private landlords are costing the national exchequer in excess of €1 billion.

“When you multiply this by the state’s continued reliance on these subsidies, we are looking at well over €1 billion paid out nationwide to corporate landlords and speculators.

Buying a home is now a distant dream for a generation of young people in Sligo

“While the Government suggests it cannot afford a realistic public house-building programme, it has no hesitation in spending over a billion euro annually on private schemes that offer no long-term value to the State.

“Since 2015, HAP has become the default source of social housing accommodation, treating housing as a speculative commodity rather than a public service.

“Furthermore, every member of this council knows that HAP is failing families. The maximum monthly rent limits are totally detached from market reality. This forces the majority of tenants to pay ‘hidden’ top-ups, pushing low-income households further into poverty, often forcing them to rely on this council for homelessness services when they inevitably cannot keep up.”

Cllr Bree insisted it is working people who are being hardest impacted by the housing crisis saying, “This free-market, pro-landlord approach from this government and its predecessors has directly manufactured the housing crisis we have today. It is working people, those on low and average incomes, who suffer the most.

“Buying a home is now a distant dream for a generation of young people in Sligo.

“Private rental schemes like HAP and RAS do not build long-term assets for our community. They do not provide security for the tenant. They only provide profit for the corporate landlords. It is time to stop subsidising the private sector and start investing in public need.”

Cllr Bree concluded by saying, “The only real solution to the housing crisis is a massive, direct public house-building programme, fully run and controlled by the local authorities, alongside a real investment in genuinely affordable housing.”

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.