Social housing rents creating a ‘poverty trap’ in Meath

Meath’s high social housing rents are creating a poverty trap for single working parents, according to a local mother who said she feels stuck and unable to better herself.

The young woman, who lives in the South Meath area, has one child. “One quarter of my income goes on rent and between childcare, running my car to get to work and the cost of feeding and clothing myself and my child, I am really struggling.

“I went to college. I have a masters degree and I work hard, but I cannot get myself out of this poverty trap.

“We have the highest local authority rents in Meath, even for those on social welfare, and it is keeping single working mothers in a poverty trap. Down the road in Finglas, I would pay a lot less.”

She explained that the council’s rents are calculated at a quarter of your income and then is capped at €195 a week for a single working mother.

“A family where two parents are working, have their rent capped at €205, they pay just an extra €10.

“I’m not the only one in this position. I know other single mothers really struggling and if they take on overtime, the rents go up.

“I am working, I would like to better myself, save to buy an affordable house, but I am struggling to make ends meet and I don’t know how I can ever get out of this situation,” she said.

Meanwhile the government has been urged to review the current Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) limits for single applicants in Meath.

The plight of applicants who were refused HAP because the limits were lower than the market rents was highlighted at a meeting of Meath County Council last week.

Cllr Dave Boyne urged the Council to call on the Minister for Housing “to review the adequacy of current HAP limits for single applicants in this county, specifically in relation to the actual market cost of renting a single room in shared accommodation.”

“We are all feeling pressure in this economic climate, not just the people use a lot of diesel. The HAP assistance limits need to be raised a bit. What would have been adequate a few years ago are no longer adequate,” he said.

Cllr Noel French seconded the proposal. “We are suffering here because of our proximity to Dublin. The HAP payments in Dublin are higher than Meath, but Meath still has quite a high price for rentals.”

Cllr Emer Tóibin said they did not want a blanket HAP increase. “We are talking about a single individual trying to rent a room in a house with three other single individuals. It is particularly difficult for them to be able to meet current rental costs. I would prefer if it was limited to this. If HAP is raised across the country, the rents will go up with it,” she said.

Cllr Boyne had asked the council for information on the number of single-person HAP applications for room-only rentals that were refused in the past 12 months due to rents exceeding HAP thresholds and how often the discretionary uplift was applied in such cases?”

Local authorities can apply a discretionary uplift of up to 35 per cent above standard HAP rent limits to help bridge the gap with market rents.

The Council responded that it does not retain data on affordability checks for HAP properties.

“Applicants are advised at an early stage if a property exceeds HAP market rent limits, and in such cases, the application does not proceed further and is not approved for HAP. As a result, no formal refusals are recorded at the application stage based on affordability checks. For all HAP tenancies commenced after 11th July 2022, the Council apply the maximum 35 per cent discretion.”

Councillors were told the Dept of Housing was currently undertaking a review of existing HAP rent limits to ensure there is sufficient support to assist eligible households in accessing accommodation in the private rental sector and intends that this review process will conclude before the end of Q2 2026.

- Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.