Councillors have voiced their opposition to Waterford Council management increasing the rents for social housing tenants, but it is a fait accompli as the higher rents will apply in the new year
It is understood that those on the minimum social welfare payment of €254 in 2026 will continue to have rent calculated at 13%. A higher bracket of 21% has also been introduced.
It was noted at December’s Plenary meeting that Waterford City and County Council were increasing rents within the Differential Rents scheme. These changes were discussed at a Strategic Policy Committee, which some councillors could attend. However, those in attendance were at pains to stress that they had no say in what was agreed.
Independent Councillor Joe Kelly, a member of the SPC, said that although the Council did give the matter considerable discussion, he could not support the motion.
“This is a management decision. And will result in rent increases for people, we have nothing to do with it,” Cllr. Kelly said.
“The rental income for the council is holding up … we can do what we have to do with what we have … it was felt necessary by the management to introduce a 21% [rent bracket].
“That just adds to the issue of people have to pay what I would say is inappropriate rent.”
Cllr. Kelly backed up earlier comments by Sinn Féin Councillor, Joanne Bailey, who said “I am a member of the housing SPC. We were told that a line would be said at the start [of this item] that this wasn’t confirmed by the subcommittee, that we weren’t happy with the document”.
Inclusion of Working Family Payment
“One of the reasons why we weren’t, was the inclusion of the Working Family Payment in the rent calculations,” she said.
“The rent differential makes sense in one way but every time there is an increase in your pension or social welfare your rent goes up … this increase in your pension of €10 sees a €4 rent increase, including everything else coming down the line,” Cllr. Bailey said.
“It’s giving it in one hand and taking it away with in another so that people are worse off in the new year.”
To this, Cllr. Kelly added, “to reiterate what Cllr. Bailey said, Working Family Payment is excluded on so many payments. Recognised by the government as an assistance to get back to work rather than be on social welfare. But yet we include every penny of that in our assessment”.
“I think that’s completely wrong and we could have set a trend by making a change here. Even if we couldn’t and the government told us we couldn’t, then we could start a campaign about that change, but we haven’t attempted to do that either,” he said.
“If I did have a vote on this scheme I would be voting against it,” Cllr. Kelly added.
Adding to this Councillor Kate O’Mahoney described the Working Family Payment as a lifeline for families that are working. “Things are really tough at the moment with everything going up,” said Cllr. O’Mahoney. “To have the Working Family Payment not be an exceptional payment is just wrong.”
Life is hard for people at the moment
In opposition to the increase Councillor John Hearne added, “I was lucky to be able to buy my own home, I was lucky with the fishing, I got a few quid. The way life is at the moment it’s very hard for people to be able to do the same”.
“If you look at the estates like Lismore Park when people did buy their home for say €10,000 at the time, people moved into areas like Larchville and Lisduggan, anyone living there since ’72, paying rent, have paid for their homes nearly five times over, whereas the people who bought privately were lucky enough to have bought once,” he said.
Cllr. Hearne then called for the Council to push the tenant purchase scheme so that social tenants who have paid their rent over decades have the option to become home owners, giving them ownership and responsibility of the property they already live in, allowing council attention and resources to be spent elsewhere.
Not reviewed since 2020
In response to this push back, Director of Services for housing, Seamus De Faoite, said this particular policy had not been reviewed since 2020, and that it would always be necessary to review policies over time. However, he did not accept that the elected members had no input into the final decision.
“We have listened to the members. The initial proposal was that the percentages would increase, but there was various points made by the members. What we ended up with is the percentage points remain the same but there is an additional band,” Mr. De Faoite explained.
Mr. De Faoite also said the Working Family Payment must be included in social rent calculations to ensure fairness and equity between households, as not all household with similar income will be in receipt of the payment.
“The example that I would give, is where you have two families living side by side €500 coming in for one family without the Working Family Payment, €500 coming into the other family with the Family Payment, we’re talking about equity with our differential rent scheme,” he said.
“It is fairness and equity. Those people are calculated on the same amount. If for instance you didn’t include the Working Family Payment there would be a large discrepancy between the rents that those two families would actually pay.
“The whole idea of the Differential Rent scheme is that you pay a rent in accordance with what money comes into the house,” Mr. De Faoite added.
Although he explained the rise would be small, Director De Faoite did acknowledge that social rents would be going up in the new year.
“The reality is, with inflation and everything else, there has been an increase,” Mr. De Faoite added.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting scheme
Aaron Kent
