Families forced to quit jobs to qualify for social housing

Cavan councillors have issued a furious call over a broken social housing threshold system that some say is driving working families to deliberately sabotage their own earnings just to qualify for a roof over their heads.

At the council's April monthly meeting, elected members from across the political divide united in outrage over income thresholds so outdated that families are said to be quitting jobs and turning down overtime to stay within limits.

Sinn Féin's Noel Connell warned of a “growing number” of working families in Cavan teetering on the edge of eviction - many through no fault of their own, victims of landlords selling up or reclaiming properties. These families, he noted, are earning just enough to be denied social housing, yet nowhere near enough to survive in a private rental market where rents have exploded past €1,800 per month in some areas.

Fine Gael's Trevor Smith shared one situation he had been made aware of - a father who has had to refuse overtime to avoid breaching the income limit. Another had to quit their job entirely.

In Cavan the threshold for a single person is that they earn no more than €30,000 net per year - a figure unchanged since it was set in 2023, while inflation has shredded the value and rents have soared in the intervening years.

“It hasn't moved with the times,” said Cllr Smith of the current threshold.

Fianna Fáil's Clifford Kelly meanwhile exposed a postcode lottery that exists: a family living just over the county boundary in Meath can earn €5,000 more per person annually and still qualify for social housing, while their neighbours in Kingscourt are shut out entirely.

Meanwhile, the human stories kept coming. A single mother penalised because her lone-parent payment tips her over the threshold. A family of four - denied support because they earn €10 too much. A distressed woman, spoken to by Fianna Fáil's Patricia Walsh just that very morning, who will be out of her home within weeks, powerless in a rental market where €1,500 buys “next to nothing”.

“We want to keep people working,” said Áine Smith (FF). “Something has to change.”

Cathaoirleach John Paul Feeley confirmed the Department of Housing has been examining the limits, but the review outcome is still unknown.

“God forbid that anyone had to make a decision on it,” he scathed.