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IMAGINE YOU HAVE to look for a new place to live. The first property you view has no cooking facilities, and is dark and damp. In the second, the tiny single bed takes up half the available space. In the third, you can’t stand up straight. And at the back of your head, all the time, is the knowledge that you must choose one of these sub-standard living spaces or run the risk of ending up on the streets…
This scenario is a reality for many people in receipt of rent supplement.
Since the Government cut the maximum amount available to rent supplement recipients, countless people have been forced to leave homes in which they had lived for years to find alternative accommodation within their reduced budgets. Often, the only choice available in their price-bracket is sub-standard bedsit accommodation. And, in some cases, even that is out of reach – leaving people with no other choice but homelessness.
Despite assertions to the contrary from the Department of Social Protection, Threshold knows rent supplement cuts are making people homeless. We’re dealing first-hand with people who have been left with no other option because they can no longer afford to pay their rent.
Take Laura, for example. As advised by the Department, she asked her landlord for a reduction in her rent once the rent supplement cuts came into effect. He refused. She’s living in bedsit accommodation, and has been unable to find any other property within her available budget. In an attempt to avoid homelessness, she has begun making ‘top-up’ payments to meet the full amount of the rent. As a result, she’s falling behind on other bills and struggling to buy household basics each week.
Michael, another client of Threshold’s, became homeless five years ago. In February, he came to our Access Housing Unit (AHU) looking for help with his housing difficulties. The AHU began looking for accommodation for him in March. Despite accompanying him to several viewings, however, we have been unable to source good-quality accommodation for him within his €475 rent cap. As a result, he continues to reside in homeless accommodation.
And then there are the families: Susan is a single mother with two children. She should be focused on getting her daughters ready for the return to school in September, but instead she has spent the summer worrying about how to make ends meet. Due to the rent supplement cuts, the family is in danger of having to leave their current home – where they have lived for six years – and move to another area. If that happens, her children will have to change schools.
These are just three of the 92,000 people who depend on rent supplement support to keep them in their homes. And we must remember that, for many people on rent supplement, where they live is their permanent home and has been for many years. They are not looking for temporary accommodation to tide them over; if they have to leave because of the rent supplement cuts, they suffer the same anguish and upset as home-owners would if they were arbitrarily asked to move out of their house.
Threshold understands that the Department of Social Protection, like all government departments, needs to make savings in line with reduced budgets. But targeting some of the most vulnerable people in society – and, potentially, causing an increase in demand for costly homelessness services – is not the right way to do this.
The Department made cuts to the rent supplement payments based on the incorrect assumption that rents are falling throughout the country. While this was true at the start of the recession, the reality for the past few years is that demand for rented accommodation – especially in urban areas – is rising and, as such, rents are rising too.
Many young couples who traditionally would have happily climbed aboard the property ladder are now choosing, instead, to remain renting. Simultaneously, many of those who have been living in private rented accommodation on a long-term basis have had their wages cut or have lost their jobs, forcing them to seek cheaper accommodation towards the lower end of the market.
This has a knock-on effect for those in receipt of rent supplement. There is now more demand for rental properties overall, and more demand for properties at the lower end of the market, in particular. And, against this backdrop, rent supplement recipients have been given reduced payments and been told to negotiate directly with their landlords to secure reductions in their rent.
The changes to the rent supplement scheme were introduced by the Department in a haphazard way. Asking vulnerable tenants – people with health problems; people who experienced homelessness in the past; those who have recently lost their jobs – to negotiate directly with landlords is farcical. Threshold has encountered many cases where people’s rent supplement payments were delayed or even temporarily stopped as they waded through the bureaucratic nightmare brought on by the changes.
The Department needs to get real about the housing need of vulnerable people and the realities of the rental market. There are a number of steps they could take to relieve the rent supplement nightmare. Firstly, responsibility for rent supplement should be transferred from the Department to local authorities.
Secondly, rent supplement should be paid directly to landlords, rather than to tenants. This would mean the Department or the relevant local authority could negotiate discounts with landlords and ensure only those in compliance with minimum standards and other relevant regulations received rent supplement payments.
Finally, the Government must act to ensure State money is not being used to pay for sub-standard accommodation. It is Threshold’s belief that bedsits wouldn’t exist if rent supplement didn’t exist. The Department of Social Protection seems to be the only entity willing to pay for such shoddy accommodation.
Ultimately, the State has a responsibility to house people who cannot afford to house themselves. Threshold believes there is a very real prospect that Ireland will face a housing shortage in the next two years, as demand begins to outstrip supply. Unless the Government acts swiftly to support the most vulnerable people in the private rented sector, the rate of homelessness will increase; standards in rental properties will fall; and thousands more people across the State will be forced to leave their long-term homes in the search for cheaper rent.
The names of the people in this article have been changed.
Bob Jordan is the executive director of Threshold. For further information about Threshold’s work, or advice on any housing issue, go to threshold.ie.
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what a good idea — to pay the rent allowance directly to the landlord and hopefully it would mean inspection of accommodation . This system is in place in Scotland and works well – if you want to rent you have to meet standards.this would also bring many landlords into the tax net — especially those with multiple properties.
social welfare is a minefield — many are not aware of their benefits and others seem to be able to work the system .. the main problem is the lack of infrastructure allowing for inter departmental communications . we are still at the stage of people having to get letters from office A to prove things to office B — this is time wasting and inefficient .
@robert these people have worked and paid taxes, have lost there jobs and need help whats your problem with that. Also we are not broke considering we just paid back unsecured bondholders 1.3 billion a few weeks ago. So we pay wealthy gamblers but feck the people that are struggling because of the gamblers. Hummmm see your point!!!
Why is it some people get by fine on social welfare while others struggle so much?
Because the reports of people living like kings on social welfare are exaggerated propaganda?
Auntie my experience of friends on social welfare is that they have far too much money and for that reason some have no intention of ever looking for work until payments are cut. When I say friends I mean lazy aquaintances :)
Kevin, limited experience is no excuse for adolescent analysis. There is hope! Analysis can be improved by gaining first hand experience of the hopelessness of unemployment. With such genius go create 450,000 jobs while you are at it.
Cathal you are right. The poorest social welfare recipients are mortgage holders. None get rent allowance (although some with high mortgage repayments get mortgage interest supplement) and many are forced to scrounge around to pay their mortgages for fear of loosing their home and life’s work. Of course the begrudging classes see everyone on social welfare as spongers but most of these people paid insurance to cover themselves in the case of unemployment. The argument put forward of laziness falls flat when the figures are examined. When work was available unemployment rate was 4%. Currently that is near 14.5% or interpreted through begrudgery that is 400,000 lazy people sponging of me! Yeah Right!
Kevin, no doubt the anecdotal acquaintances you mention, are a self-selected sample of welfare recipients that you meet in circumstances where reckless spending becomes easier as the night goes on – the pub. You will not meet the families that are struggling in those circumstances.
I would recommend that you offer to volunteer for Threshold, or a similar organisation, for a month. You will soon have a different collection of anecdotes to base your comments on.
The bedsit was supposed to have been scrapped years ago but it still survives. Fact is, irrespective of cost, this type of accommodation which originally became popular in the years after World War Two should no longer be considered fit for human habitation. Landlords have made absolute killings over the years by purchasing clapped-out Georgian houses and turning them into ridiculous numbers of these dwellings (I feel “dwelling is an appropriate word as it drips with opprobrium).
It’s an almost universal opinion among visitors – rented accommodation here is overpriced and of poor quality and the bedsit or small flat ranks at the bottom of that scale. They’re physically and mentally damaging to the occupant and belong in another era. There’s no excuse in 2012.
Paying unrealistic anti-working style welfare has led to this culture of entitlement which has no place in Ireland’s current economic situation. Those who need it should be paid. those who’ve been robbing the system should be cut off.
And what do you suppose we do to those people whom sponge off the government? Put them in prison, force them on the streets or should we become inhuman and place them in the gas Chambers, maybe those people who are sponging off the welfare are genuine cases smart enough to get a better standard of living, sponging our not those people need help.
well said Elizabeth
?475 a month rent allowance is I would say more than adequate and would get you a decent room in a shared house anywhere in the country prob inc bills. If you choose a two bit bedsit, that’s your own choice. People need to explore what options are out there…..it might take having to make a few extra calls or walk a bit more, but that’s life. Get out and get a better deal for yourself….the country is awash with places to rent
You miss the point Kevin. If the endemic abuse of the welfare system was not there, funds could be better used to aid those who genuinely are unable to work. Also these funds could be put to genuine retraining of people and not the joke that is/was FAS whose role is purely to massage the unemployment figures.
Tokeel showing his real knowledge of the system there. You don’t get €475 rent allowance, nowhere near it. There is a maximum amount set per area, in Cork it’s about €200. If you want rent allowance in Dublin city centre the most expensive place you’re allowed to rent is a rate of €475. You’re then given partial contribution towards that and you have to make a minimum contribution yourself. I think the lowest is €20 per week but this varies depending on individual circumstances.
You’re wrong and you’re ill informed. If you’re going to get indignant over supporting vulnerable people at least do a little research beyond reading opinion pieces in the red tops.
@ toorkeel: you don’t know what you’re talking about. in dublin the cap is €475 for a SOLE occupancy, bedsit whatever, they pay you something towards that, not the 475. if the rent is above 475, you don’t get anything, at all!
For shared accomodation, the cap is €300 NOT €475, likewise you have to pay a % towards that and if the room is above €300 again you don’t get anything. this is also a new rul they brought in, not just the lowering of the Cap, but if the rent goes above that Cap, you’re NOT entitled to any help. its f^^^ing ridiculous
Like a lot of women of my generation (born in the 50′s) I went to work at 13 years of age. I worked 5 and a half days a week for minimal wage. Put myself back through school at night, went on to get a better paid job and continued to work even after I got married and had my children. I worked 10 hour shifts at night so I could be with my kids during the day and my husband would be with them while I was at work. In 2007 I was struck down by a virus and almost died. Since then my health has declined and I can no longer work, my husband lost his job and eventually, the strain of everything, caused him to leave us. My son has two years of College left and my daughter is in Leaving Certificate Year at school. I am supporting us on my Disability Allowance and like so many others was faced with the task of asking my Landlord to reduce our rent or we would be forced to find another house within 12 weeks. My Landlord was sympathetic to our plight and is working with us but many other people are not so lucky. I have no doubt that there are some Welfare recipients who know how to fiddle the system but I am not one of them and I don’t personally know anyone who is. Not even in my worst nightmare would I have thought I would end up this vulnerable. Having worked and contributed for over 40 years I refuse to feel ashamed now of my position and I will fight for my rights and the rights of my children to a decent standard of living. Our Government has let the hard working people, the sick, the elderly and the disabled down while they continue to support the rich and careless. Shame on them and on those who turn a blind eye to all of this injustice.
Seriously though, rent allowance is a gift to landlords. It creates a market whereby the minimum amount a property can be rented for, no matter how undesirable, is the amount of the rent allowance. This means that low-paid employed people, who are not in receipt of rent allowance, cannot afford proper accommodation because the market is distorted.
Instead, the State should invest the month to build apartment blocks (or repossess them from bankrupt investors) for council housing; and they should widen the range of people eligible for council housing to make more people want to live in it by removing the social stigma. In the UK, it’s normal for perfectly respectable people like policemen or nurses to live in council housing, they are not social sinkholes.
handing over houses to local authorities is not the answer, they are too slow and bogged down in red tape to make any difference to waiting lists etc. in tipperary there are over 4000 on housing waiting lists, yet in almost every town there are empty council houses. these are empty for months sometimes years, the councils say they have no money to refurbish them (if any work is needed at all) so instead they leave them empty, the thieves , vandals and junkies get in and wreck the place then they become inhabitable or cost too much to do up so they are boarded up and left, this then attracts more dumping,graffiti, vandalism etc until the place is tourched or beyond repair. there are 20 houses built for the local authority near me, handed over 2 years ago, out of these there are 6 still unoccupied, 2 of which have been broken into and boarded up. of if local authorities were given incentives to turn around tenancies quicker the story might be different, as it stands the longer houses are left empty the more money the council can claim to refurbish them. again local and national policy is do nothing and get more for doing it .
Eric – you can blame the rent allowance system for that too. If I can get a subsidised house in a nice neighbourhood, why will I accept to live in a council area near vandalised buildings? The building of council housing and widening of its demographics (the carrot) must go hand in hand with the stick of phasing out rent allowance to landlords.
Why do people expect the government to pay for everything and hold their hand n look after them…we are broke..smashed..haven’t a pot to wee in.. Don’t have the dosh to sustain all these payments simple
life must be good in your universe.
im 33 have worked since I was 17 did a tarde and got by all my life im outta work last 2 years cant get a job and will probably have to leave country in next few months I Didnt buy a house for stupid money and struggle to get buy .should I be given 55 euro a week towards rent or am i a burden not like banks who get billions every year
Because some employers try every trick in the book to pay hard working people the lowest wage possible, include various tax increases and benefit reductions and you’ve got a mixture for forcible poverty.
When we are all back working and paying our taxes, “we” won’t be broke! But never believe it was the feeding or the housing or the sustenance of poor people that “broke” our economy. Rich people, when they need to be sustained are ever so much more expensive!
Rent supplement was a contributing factor driving up property prices
What do you propose leave them on the street kids and all get some compassion you troll
Are we heading for ‘shanty township type’ developments and the prospects of foreign overseas charities coming to Ireland to build homes for us. How long until we have 3 or 4 families sharing single dwellings ?
Too soon, I fear.
The rent is too damn high…
I rent in Dublin and nearly half my wages go on rent. I’m lucky enough that I can afford this, but if I was earning less I can’t imagine the type of hole I’d be living in.
Precisely – it’s people like you who are screwed by rent allowance, which creates an artificial bottom to rent amounts without a corresponding minimum in the quality of rented accommodation
If you ‘can’t understand why’, why don’t you do volunteer with Focus or Threshold or Alone or whatever local service providing charity will have you and inform yourselves?
Landlords in Ireland have gotten away with sub standard accommodation, bullying and extortion for years. I have previously rented and paid for an apartment owned by a former Mayor , a ‘popular’ business man and ‘reputable’ agency all of which had serious issue s . I was evicted from each one for attempting to address the issues by witholding rent until damages or facilities were repaired . In one a work colleague and I rented an apartment under construction , handed over a deposit and rent, waited for keys on set date , assured all works were complete only to find we had no working kitchen, no cupboards , no lights but we were expected to not only pay for this, live in it and keep quiet , but allow the larger bed room to be used by a carpenter to build the kitchen cabinets for two weeks . I occupied the smaller single room and my colleague had to stay with friends. On refusing to pay rent , the agent came to the apartment and shouldered me into the wall, threatened me and we were evicted and told we would be black listed in the rental market in our city here in out. This came about when the sympathetic carpenter gave us the actual property owners phone number to explain the situation with agent charging rent ( he was also waiting to be paid ) . However the owner decided it was too much of an intrusion to his private life and had us thrown out . In another private rented accommodation I with held rent for black mold covering a wall from floor to ceiling in a new rental. Again – eviction. The Tenant is a sub species it seems and the wealthier the property owner the more callous and corrupt they are – with an army of equally dishonest and unscrupulous legal eagles to do battle with pen and paper to intimidate tenants . This is also the case with many Council properties .
@ Eric, I agree. Our government has failed completely over the entire history of this state to deal with this issue. None of the support systems work. The rent allowance system is a joke. Tenants have little or no recourse to the law. I can buy/rent other products and my consumer rights are there to protect me. Why does successive governments fail to correct this. Will this government bring in fair laws as found elsewhere. Don’t hold your breath.
Perhaps the reason many people ” get by fine” on Social Welfare is because they are not actually living on Social Welfare payments alone. If you take the time to read some of The Combat Poverty reports you may find answers beyond the rhetorical. There are many people struggling to meet their basic needs as families , disabled or long term ill, lone parents ,single young adults who are unable to achieve a mortgage or / and early school / home leavers. It would be naive and cruel to think that in Ireland we have created a perfect Society where these issues do not exist beyond old Dickensian tales. I currently live on a Disability Allowance but I am returning to Full Time Study in Sept. As a Lone Parent I receive 217.00 per week for my teenage child and I to supplement our current lack of income. His allocation from this is 35 euro a week to feed clothe transport and provide for other miscellaneous. Until recently I topped up our rent contributions by an extra 80 + euro a month , since rent caps were twice reduced in the past year and a half without proper consultation between tenants and landlords (who make up the housing shortfall for our low to middle income earners and social welfare recipients). Weekly I paid 45 euro – 55 euro from this 217 to rent a two bed apartment. Although I was offered a Social Housing accommodation due to disability I was unable to move at the time of being offered the property . On the advice and recommendation of a Primary Care Social Worker from my Hospital I stayed where I was in a 1st floor flat and subsequently my rent allowance was reduced along with Disability Allowance, Fuel Allowance and Dietary Allowance ( 10 euro per week) . There are other issues with renting that seem to pass by officialdom . Most Tenants pay their rent monthly,securing with a months deposit, but many Social Welfare recipients pay their rent weekly because they cannot afford the lump sum payment of one month rent in advance along with Deposit. The Deposit is compulsory but Landlords will negotiate rent payments – it is in their interests to do so as they gain an extra four weeks of rent at the end of a 52 week period . Therefore Social Welfare recipients are not only paying above the cap topping up rent payments , but they are also paying an extra four weeks rent a year – part subsidised by Community Welfare / tax payer. If properties are turned over to the RAS – Rent Assistance Scheme, operated by Councils – Tenants pay 2 deposits – 1 to Landlord of a months rent in advance and a sum of 200 to the City Council. Many Landlords agreeing to go into this scheme are asking tenants to top up the rent to keep it at the level they received on market. Council will only pay Landlords opting into the RAS scheme a max of 650 per calendar month for 2 bed apartment . Tenant pays % minimum of 40 euro to Council per week and tops up to the Landlord by anything from 50 – 100 per month on top of this . All in, a family of two are left with 160 approx – 80 euro each for ESB, phone, transport, food, clothing , miscellaneous ( numerous) . While I am entitled to Free Travel for the past two years due to mobility issue and muscle weakness , my child who has Epilepsy and Asthma diagnosis is not entitled to Free Travel and we often need taxis – esp with Hospital stays. The logistics of applying for reimbursements or emergency payments for these expenses is so long winded , necessitating numerous visits and trips and queuing to Community Welfare with receipts and Doctors letters that we usually dont apply – we cant get away from every day life to do it and on the last attempt while our CWO was civil and understanding – her boss refused to grant emergency payment even though it was known that I was waiting to receive a long over due reimbursement for unpaid Disability Allowance. For two years I was entitled to claim Disability Allowance and was refused it along with the additional supports that went with it at the time – rehabilitative training through FAS , physiotherapy, free travel and some phone call s supplement. Previously I worked and paid taxes as registered self employed . In contrast I have observed other Social Welfare recipients who seem to be expert at claiming all manner or financial renumerations while working undeclared hours cash in hand – officialdom happily turning a blind eye. Perhaps because craftier individuals have other incomes they don’t declare individuals like the above commenter truly believe that families can survive on this ‘ fine’. And as long as the Caffe Latte Society of Ireland are running the services , agencies and research – well, Ireland will jog on oblivious.
we are on the r.a.s. scheme and have to ‘top-up’ our rent by 45 euro per week to our landlord, we also pay 43.86 to the council. this is from E200.35 per week disability allowance for myself and my wife. we are not eligible for council housing as we have been on the r.a.s for over 12 month’s and council/govt rules state that if you are renting via r.a.s for 12 months or more you have to come off the council waiting list. this means that local authorities and govt rules are actively prohibiting people from getting council housing which would be cheaper for the state to subsidies than private renting . fortunately for us we have a very decent landlord and the property is well maintained , though previous to finding this house we had lived in some right kip’s, including rotting timber ‘chalets’ described by the landlord as “luxury accommodation “. my G.P wrote to the council and social welfare telling them that these buildings were no suitable for human habitation, yet 8 years later they are still being rented out through s.w. funding at over 100 euro per week. until there is a radical change to local and national policy this type of landlord will thrive on the money the state pays them, we need tougher regulation of the housing market and more enforcement to make slum landlords (including local authorities) bring their properties up to a decent modern standard.
Fair play Anna for being so open and honest about your situation. More stories like this need to be told to educate the ignorant in our society. There is a serious lack of empathy shown by those in government and people who don’t know the full story about many many people who rely on SW to ‘survive and exist’ – because from what I understand, that’s exactly what you are doing. Existing and surviving everyday life with no ‘light’ at the end of the tunnel. Too many people make general sweeping assumptions about those relying on SW, due to negative press about the ‘few’ who abuse the system. Unfortunately the SW system needs a major overhaul regarding change in policy, and administration, especially in the area of part-time work, and casual positions. I could go on for ever about what changes are needed but no matter who I contact, you might aswell be banging your head against a brick wall! I hope you have a good weekend and thanks for sharing :-)
Yes, it’s so unfair that people whose rent is paid by the State cannot afford prime accommodation and have to do with less!
I hope you never end up losing your job and relying on benefits!! People like you haven’t got a clue about what goes on out in the real world. The majority of people in receipt of social welfare benefits don’t choose that way of life.
Some of the rental accommodation being offered to people on welfare is downright awful, you wouldn’t let a dog stay in it let alone a human being. But according to you these people should live in squalor as they’re receiving assistance from the state!! Take your head out of your backside and get real!!
Vanessa, thank you for your wishes – I hope I don’t end up relying on benefits, indeed. But if I relied on the rest of us to provide me with subsidised housing, I would be happy to have a roof over me at all. Still, rent allowance is a gift to landlords, not tenants (see my more serious comment below)
@ Robert exactly. Why was welfare escalating during the boom years? surely reducing it, making more available to genuine cases when things got bad would be a more prudent policy? it’s nonsense. always was…
“Elizabeth Dunne” is as real as the world she lives in!!! ease up on the EEEEss
@ Elizabeth .. I hope you never have to live on welfare ‘liz’…
i just wonder how many of our political class are private landlords? quite a few i reckon as the law seems to side with the landlord in most cases.
I did a bit of digging into this online a few years ago. A shocking, nay, astounding number of our political representatives were also part-time landlords. So many erstwhile FF’ers were so knee-deep in property shenanigans it would be difficult to see how they could have been anything other than partial in the matter. There’s been a serious shake up since then of course. Much of this information is in the public domain so if someone has the time it’s actually quite easy to find out.
?475 a month won’t get you much of a bedsit, (I can’t believe it would get you any, and I amn’t surprised at the poor quality of what’s on offer for that price,) but it would comfortably cover a room in a shared flat or house.
I understand the logic of the reduction in rent relief was to allow market forces to take effect on rents at the lower end of the market so they’d reduce rather than being artificially propped up by rent allowance, and who knows, it might work, bit what’s the cost in human suffering and lives being upheaved?
Threshold are absolute heroes. So many people would be completely screwed without their help. My sincerest thanks to Bob Jordan and all the rest at Threshold. They’re making many callous landlords stand by their legal requirements and doing work that the government is ignoring. Fair play to them all.
How is it I know a ‘family’ of three (1 kid) who are not married and dont declare they live together, both on the dole who live in a brand new 4 bedroom house in a nice Dublin suburb? They have an equivalent standard of living as most people with good jobs.
Report them. Simple as that.
If what you say is true, they are probably engaged in some form of fraud, or least have a source of income other than the dole. Social welfare rates in Ireland (especially if there only one child) do not pay anywhere near enough to pay market rate rents in 4 bed houses in nice suburbs. This idea that going on the dole allows everyone to live the high life is a total myth.
Also, social welfare payments are taxable. Myself and my beloved other are both self-employed and often put in more than 40+ hours of actual (sometimes back-breaking) work each, but with our incomes severely depleted by costs going up and our clients’ disposable income going down. As a result, we are both eligible for a means tested top up to our self-employed income – which supplements around 40-45% of our total income.
We pay a mortgage, and receive no rent supplement or mortgage interest relief. Each year we declare all the income, every last penny, including the means-tested welfare sums and the self-employed income, to the revenue commissioners and pay whatever tax is due.
Most social welfare payments (but not FIS or Child Benefit) are liable for tax. If you think someone is not paying the tax due, then, don’t complain – report.
Oh, and, no, we are barely scraping our subsistence together, not a living. Those 1.8 million people who *only* have €100 of disposable income at the end of the month? Better off than us. (But for the record, we are grateful to be rich in many things that do not cost money).
Bob, It might be an idea to do a follow up article on this subject? if you read through some of the comments you can see theres a lot of ignorance out there! some of the more sinister cuts,,ie,, the central rents unit, all claims are now done by post! The CWO no longer deal with rent allowance,no more face to face contact ,cutting, what was a freecall number, to a lowcall number, with an average wait of 40 minutes at a cost of 4 or 5 euro to see how claim is progressing and all the red tabe and catch 22s that go with trying to make a successful claim, if anybody thinks its just a matter of walking into a nice new home? and people are doing this as a first choice? their not liveing in the real world.
€475 per month. How can someone not find accommodation for €475 per month. Yes they may not be able to find a 1 bed apt/studio but there are plenty of house shares out there. I know plenty of full time employed people who couldn’t afford accommodation for €475 per month. I’m not knocking social welfare if needed but €475 is generous in my eyes.
@Louise, why not try an experiment. Attempt to navigate the process of obtaining rent allowance. Try an area outside of Dublin, maybe Kildare or Meath. Pick a town or village. Observe how many landlords blatantly advertise “no rent allowance accepted”. This will show you that even landlords don’t want to get involved with the system. Now obtain all the documents required. Firstly you will have to be on the county housing list. This will require a number of journeys to whichever town that particular county has its county council offices in. Next if you have children and arn’t married for whatever reason, you will have to travel to Dublin to obtain documents from the Childrens Court, proving custody. Now you have to obtain numerous documents from your landlord proving they are registered with the PRTB, proof that the landlord owns the property etc. if any of these documents are incomplete no rent allowance payment is made. Every time you move this process is endured. This process can take months when it works and forever when it doesn’t. The tenant has no rights to compel any third party to furfill these obligations, and so landlords are lax to provide them. This leads to tenants paying rent from monies meant for food clothing etc.
@Doc what has all that got to do with the price of the rent? Sounds like a horrible ordeal but the reason for that is a lot of people on support do not take care of the property they have rented. I owned a rental property and from day one took in rent allowance people. 6 out of 7 times my house was wrecked and/or they moved out without telling me & owing me back rent. And what do the county council do just start paying there rent somewhere else without any consequences to them. The response was keep the deposit. They all expect that to cover damage, cleaning & rental arrears. So that system I agree has been messed up by some but that has nothing to do with the fact that it is impossible to find single accommodation for less than €475 per month.
doc, the main reason landlords don’t want to ‘get involved’ with rent allowance is because they would have to then pay tax on their ‘earnings’ as for the p.t.r.b ,they are another waste of space, so much is loaded on the landlords side that a tenant ‘getting a result’ through them is a rare thing, and it can take over 12 months just to get a hearing date. we took up a complaint with them a few years back as our then landlord was withholding our deposit of 750 euro, he had previously came and told us that we had 1 month to leave as he had sold the house, i found new accommodation with in 1 week and gave him notice. he withheld the deposit on the grounds that under p.r.t.b rules i HAD TO GIVE HIM 3 MONTHS NOTICE as we had lived there for more than 5 years. when i contacted the p.r.t.b and told them what had happened they said they would only bring a case against him if i paid them 150 euro and it could take up to 18 months to go to small claims court, and then they told me that he was” perfectly within his rights” to withhold the deposit as we had given him insufficient notice. p.r.t.b is a 1 way 1 sided street .
Or maybe the main reason is their property gets damaged and they have no comeback. I’ve always gone through the PRTB but what’s the point in chasing a single mother of two who wrecked my house, is on welfare & has no money to pay for damages anyway. I don’t want the hassle of chasing ex-tenants. I just want to know that current tenants are taking care of the place (excluding obviously general wear & tear).
Louise,,the limit of 475euro is for self contained accommodation,,its 250euro per month for shared in Fingal and 300 in other Dublin areas..
Louise, again, you’re another who does not know what they’re talking about. in dublin the cap is €475 for a SOLE occupancy, bedsit whatever, NOT sharing!. they pay you something towards that, not the 475. if the rent is above 475, you don’t get anything, at all!
For shared accomodation, the cap is €300 NOT €475, likewise you have to pay a % towards that and if the room is above €300 again you don’t get anything. this is also a new rul they brought in, not just the lowering of the Cap, but if the rent goes above that Cap, you’re NOT entitled to any help.
@Louise, while I sympathise with your bad experience with a particular tenant, if the business of being a landlord doesn’t satisfy you, you have the choice to enter another business. This thread is a discussion on the failure of our system of providing housing in this country. The failure of this state to provide a fair and lawful system for both tenant and landlord, something they can do practically everywhere else in Europe. Tenants can not rent long term in this country, why not? Tenants have no rights here. Landlords have a long and bad history. A fair system as exists in other countries would serve both parties, much better that the current one. Why has our government done nothing in the last 100 years?
@Gobby Johnny, The article states Michaels rent allowance of €475. If Michael can’t afford SOLE occupancy (as you so put it) then share. I have a 2 bed apt with a high mortgage and if I had trouble paying it I’d get in a flatmate to help with the burden.
@Doc – I don’t need to get out of the letting game as I thank god have a lovely tenant who takes care of my property. Pay rent on time etc but as I said prior to that the place got thrashed via rent allowance. I even had to call the Gardai once & what happened, the girl moved on & started renting somewhere else immediately. Shit system end off & I feel for a lot of people landlords & genuine tenants trying to make the system work for them.
Each Health board in Dublin seems to be allowed to set their own cap. Im in Dublin 7 (very central)and the cap is less than 300 euros, roughly 276 for a room in shared accomadation. There not even offering the exact information online, citizens advice centres would’nt even be able to tell a person what the cap is.
Also, this article is meaningless without some metrics of what the allowance is.
rent allowances differ area to area in sligo for a married couple with 2 kids i think its nearly 600 per month but 10mins away in lietrim its only 375 per month go figure!! can’t afford my rent! In a work scheme which ends in sept. and can’t find work still looking and applying! i can afford a mortgage as house prices as low as 60k without rent allowance but obviously can’t get a mortgage and even if i was working the banks won’t lend! Its idiotic the situation with rents at the min with ghost estates lying empty and becoming over grown eye sores! I’d love the council to give me one of these and i’d finish the house off myself!
Why not take over these estates and allow the people signing on to get these houses in to a livable standard which will take the pressure of the system!
Give us the rights we’ll fix em up ourselves and can pay the council rents on em or intrest free loans to buy them massive problem sorted!!!!
While I completely believe we have a responsibility to house every citizen in adequate accommodation. I also cannot understand how with so many support mechanisms, people who qualify for rent supplement can be struggling. A qualifying single person in Dublin will obtain €300 a month for shared accommodation on top of their SW entitlements of €188 a week. A quick search on Daft.ie reveals over 450 properties for €200-300 a month in Dublin area (Sharing Accommodation).
While all of these properties may not be suitable (e,g. sub par standard), you would guess and presume 50% or so is. After this payment the person is left with their €188 SW payment for a rent contribution if applicable, food, bills and clothing a week (Where if struggling further assistance is available). This may not leave them with discretionary money for drinking, cigarettes, luxury items etc……but should it?
@ Peter, simply put the system does not work. The complexity of bureaucracy involved would make a Vogon proud. Tenants in this country as compared to say Germany have no rights. Given our history with landlords why have no government resolved this. What have they been doing for the last 100 years? We have little or no council/municipal housing in this country, yet it is the norm in every other European country.
Currently we have 1000′s of houses bought and paid for by the state, all lying unoccupied, and being allowed to crumble into the ground. What a waste at a time like this.
@Doc yes and I completely agree a lot more efficiency could be done by government to utilize housing (such as held within NAMA) for those in need. My point is though, there is support there for people to live an adequate lifestyle while on SW payments. I understand you cannot paint everyone with the same brush but I also understand far to many live off the state trying to claim as much as possible in handouts. The SW net should be viewed as a last resort safety net to live an adequate lifestyle until you can obtain employment etc once more, not as a cushy number where job is to get as many entitlements as possible to live a comfortable lifestyle at similar level to those in employment. In most other SW countries, your entitlements are based on what you had put into the system while employed – with state benefit entitlements a % of tax paid in, not a lifetime of entitlements and benefits.
@ Peter, yes the government says these supports are in place, but the harsh reality is that it does not work. Obtaining answers from the rent allowance office is impossible. I have been unable to obtain rent allowance although I’m supposed to be able to claim it, for over a year now.My claim is dependant on my landlord providing me with a document, which their agent says has been applied for(PRTB) but that there is a delay (lies). I cannot take any legal action against anyone to resolve this. All I can do is move, and hope my next landlord is more co-operative and honest. I pay everything from the monies I get from a C.E. scheme. Obtaining and keeping a home is a real problem for me. I feel I am not alone in this situation. I would be happy to work to restore any ghost estates in the country to living standard, if this provided a home. I would be happy to pay rent based on my income for this home. Instead these properties will be razed to the ground. I have found Irish landlords leave a lot to be desired. Our laws favour only the landlord. Given our history I am at a loss to explain why no government has ever changed this. The world is laughing at us. I will leave this country and never come back, and that saddens me.
On council properties . Many are good , well built and a blessing for anyone who cannot afford a mortgage when they need a home . But many council neighbourhoods have been settled with anti social criminal elements . They are running some neighbourhood streets , bullying vulnerable youths/kids and their families and getting off scot free. Why would a parent – for example – agree to live in a Council neighbourhood or street where known criminal types are ruling the street ? Just because you are of less affluent means does not mean you lower your expectations for your children . Their safety and your home security must also count for something and sadly in some newer Council developments this is not the reality and the Council does not seem to be able to do much to deal with anti social tenants.
What’s truly bizarre here is that, at a reasonable rate of interest, what’s being paid in rent allowance for a single person could probably mortgage a decent one bedroom apartment now. People on rent allowance aren’t considered creditworthy so they can’t get said mortgage, yet the state, which owns vast swathes of such properties (either directly or indirectly) pay landlords – many of whom are technically insolvent themselves – taxpayers cash while at the same time increasing the cost of renting for the very same taxpayers.
I believe we have now entered the twilight zone.
Surely the issue here isn’t the amount of rent allowance, or who it’s paid to… it’s that people are renting out sub-standard accomodation.
There is definitely something wrong…..
I am on the RAS scheme with my 6 yr old and live in Kerry in a huuuge house, much too big… I applied soooo many times in writing, phoning, going personal for a SMALLER house, simpler in the country and HALF the rent. And they JUST denying it again and again…..
Someone should start a “rateyourlandlord” website. Get some momentum behind the shunning of the shoddy.
absoulate disgusting what is happing here .this country is gone to pure hell people dont understand how bad this is something needs to be done no help in this country when someone really needs it makes my blood boil.
I moved to Ireland from the USA where I was active in social issues. It amazes me that there is so lttle active, organised political action at the grass-roots for fairness and justice in Ireland’s politics. That means having true facts, analysis, assistance to the Government agencies to help make decisions. It will never be perfect but the refusal to examine Croke Park, Government ministers agitating for abortion and same gender unions when those are not crying needs from the people, huge salaries to so-called consultants when the politicians are elected and responsible to the electorate for their decisions are among some glaring topics. There is always going to be greed, graft and political posturing so an outside voice that is based on reason and Natural Law, also known as COMMON SENSE is a powerful actor in the drama. Part of the struggle is to balance Leftist so-called “liberal” media who play the same old tune – bash the Church, Bible and promote the wildest agenda of the day.
Thanks Shelly O Shea.. I am very glad for the system we do have to fall back on , however flawed . What does it take to start a Housing Co Op and find some land and simply build for ones self as part of a collective….? Kevin McCloud followed several projects in the UK on Grand Designs, and we have some great examples in Ireland – in Tipperary, Galway County and in Dublin City Centre . Maybe what we need is a National Affordable Accommodation Day and a roving set of Fixit s like the trio of Doctors on Embarrassing Bodies with Pop Up Clinics in cities nationwide ….then perhaps you may get more candid stories and when they are all added up the human side of this might emerge with some pragmatic solutions. Houses can be built cheaper , Land can be re zoned , Co Ops can be Funded and people could be assisted to be more self sufficient for – food energy and some Industry .
Why isn’t there just a maximum amount of Rent Allowance that Social Welfare will give per week to a person?
Why should it be different if you are in shared accommodation or non-shared?
eg.
€75 for a single person
€100 for a single person with 1 child
etc
I’m not sure what the amounts should be.
Wouldn’t that simplify things for everyone.
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Christine – Go on GumTree and DAFT.IE and place ad in the Community Sections and blizzard house agents and letting agents – many have clients who would only be delighted to get a long term tenant and secure rental income , having been left in the red. You can email them via Daft.ie and they can propose you as a tenant to clients . That is how I approached sourcing my current let .
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