Council rents dearer than private houses

Tenants in local authority houses are paying between €20 and €121 per week rent to Cavan Town Council, while their counterparts claiming rent allowance from the Department of Social and Family Affairs for private housing are only paying €12.50 per week, it emerged at the monthly meeting of the council on Monday. The issue was put on the agenda by Fianna Fáil councillors, Paddy Conaty, Patricia Walsh and Paddy Sexton, who called on the government to review the current system for payment of Supplementary Welfare Rent Allowance. They believe that the rent allowance should be administered through the local authority. Cllrs. Conaty, Walsh and Sexton identified a number of problems: council house tenants are asking them why they have to pay more than those in private accommodation; people on the waiting list for council houses are refusing when their turn comes; and landlords who are letting their private property to rent allowance recipients are 'getting colossal money from this system', at the expense of the taxpayer. The motion won widespread support from other members of the council. 'This needs to be streamlined,' said Fine Gael Cllr. Paddy Reilly. His party colleague, Cllr. Andrew Boylan agreed. 'It is a problem; it"s an incentive for people to remain in private houses.' Sinn Féin Cllr. Brian McKeown made a strong case for hard-pressed local authority tenants, 77% of whom have recently had an increase in their rent during the review for this year. He said there was a general consensus that rent increases should be in line with inflation, but claimed they are, this year, 'out of all proportion' to that. The councillor acknowledged that appeals under the hardship clause may be successful but he objected to the necessity for tenants to go through the stress and pressure of 'having to go cap in hand' and have their circumstances investigated for such appeals. 'We"re putting people into houses and expecting them to pay more for them,' he said, also claiming that there are a number of houses crying out for repairs such as window replacements. Labour Cllr. Des Cullen voiced his support adding that 'people were prepared for a certain level of increase, but in some cases it has gone beyond that'. Councillors, including Cllr. Cullen, noted that people may also have lost fuel allowance, medical card and other incomes already in the national budget, or be at risk of reduced children"s allowance incomes. Speaking of one case where rent went up from €23 per week to €40 per week in the recent review, Cllr. Patricia Walsh commented: 'People might say that it"s not that much money, but it is for someone who is on the bread-line and watching every penny.' Cllr. Paddy Sexton added; 'As one person said to me, an increase of €10 means a bag of coal.' Town Clerk, Brian Hora, explained that the local authority rent was calculated as a percentage of the household income, which is considered the fairest way. Following the recent rent reviews, nine per cent had a reduction in rent, 14% had no change and the remaining 77% had an increase. He qualified that a number of increases were because tenants failed to submit income details and had to be automatically put on the maximum rent of €121 per week, but this will be rectified as soon as they submit their details. The current rent breakdown is: 18% pay €33 per week or less; 45% pay €40; 55% pay €50 per week or less; 10% pay €50-60 per week; 17% pay €61-70 per week; and the remainder are over that. There have been 35 appeals this year under the hardship clause.