Lone parents facing real hardship with rent - Blake

Meath County Council's social housing rents are higher than in Dublin and tenants are struggling to make ends meet, a meeting of the council was told last week.

Single working parents with only one wage coming in are really struggling, Cllr Fionnan Blake told the meeting.

He called on the council to review the Differential Rent Scheme with a view to assisting single parents in full time employment.

“Single working parents are really struggling, especially, for example, if that parent has a child in secondary school.

“A single working parent who contacted me has a child was going into transition year. This lady worked overtime, in the lead up to the school year in order to pay for all the extra activities, transition year brings, school outings and a foreign trip etc.

“This overtime, extra money was taken into consideration and she had her rent raised after a review. There’s a disincentive to work overtime and try to better yourself and your family’s lives.

“She also told me she was working to set a good example to her daughter, working every day and working overtime only to be rewarded with a rent increase. She then told me , at this point she would be better off not working at all, which is truly shocking and very sad. I would like to see overtime not taken into account and your rent judged on your basic pay.”

Cllr Blake said he understood hardship forms were in place for people struggling.

“This has been described to me as degrading and demoralising for working people. It’s still possible to have absolutely no money and still not qualify for this support.

“I understand and respect the council have to manage, maintain and invest in housing stock, but we have a cost-of-living crisis. People are struggling to put food on their tables. We’ve seen what’s happened with the fuel crisis. People can’t heat their homes and it’s more expensive to drive your car to work, aligned with a public transport system that’s not fit for purpose. As more Social and Affordable homes are built, hopefully over the next couple of years, I’d like to see rents come down.”

Cllr Blake said that Sinn Fein had a motion before Dublin City Council to reduce rents, after a recent rent hike there.

“Even after that recent hike, their rents are still lower than the rents in Meath. There is a cohort of working poor within this scheme, so I’m calling for a robust review of this scheme and help working people. Their struggle is real and anxiety is through the roof,”

Meath County Council said the Differential Rent Scheme was subject to an annual review, having regard to key factors such as the costs associated with managing, maintaining and investing in the Council’s housing stock. The scheme operates on a standardised, income based basis and applies consistently across all tenancies, with each household’s rent assessed having regard to their composition and individual income circumstances.

“In considering proposals for additional supports specifically targeted at single income working families, it is necessary to take account of practical and operational considerations. The verification of household composition can already present challenges, and the introduction of further supports dependent on full and accurate disclosure could increase the risk of incorrect declarations or unintended misuse of the scheme.

“Where tenants experience genuine difficulty in meeting their rent obligations, the Council can consider hardship arrangements on a case by case basis.

“The matter raised will continue to be examined as part of the annual review of the Differential Rent Scheme, while ensuring that the Council can continue to meet its responsibilities to manage, maintain and invest in its housing stock in a sustainable manner.”

- Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.