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Dáil
‹ An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

Social housing income thresholds

Summary

Deputy Boyd Barrett criticised income thresholds that he said were removing working people from social housing lists because of temporary extra earnings. The Minister said the Housing Agency was reviewing the thresholds as part of a wider social housing reform package nearing Cabinet.

As a result of the refusal of Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to raise the income thresholds for social housing, hundreds of housing applicants who are hard-working people are being thrown off the list. It is happening every week. I have some examples. Sinéad, who had been on the list for eight years, was thrown off it because she did three months of temporary overtime for a sick colleague. Lorraine was thrown off the list after 15 years because her husband was doing some extra hours at work. The stress broke up their relationship. Vanessa had been on the list for 15 years. She was reassessed just before she got a house and was thrown off the list, after 15 years waiting, and is now facing eviction from private rented accommodation. Orla was reassessed to include the income of her husband who did not live with her anymore. She was thrown off the list and lost credit for the years she had spent on it.

This is going on every week. These are working people whose income is too low to pay excessive rents or buy on the open market and they are being culled from the list, week after week. The Minister has promised to do something about these income thresholds for two years and has done nothing.

Comment on this

The Housing Agency is looking at the income thresholds for social housing eligibility. There are a number of reforms that we need to make about how we manage social housing homes, including in the areas of rents, succession rights, tenant purchase and income eligibility thresholds. For those reforms to make sense, they must be connected to each other. That work is awaiting the outcome of a larger package of social housing reforms, which is almost at completion and almost ready to go to Cabinet.

Comment on this

We have been told that for two years.

Comment on this