Local Councillor Willima Caret recently highlighted South Dublin County Council’s rents policy. In a recent example of the effects of the new rent differential policy, the cost to one family has seen their rent increase from €70 to €236 per week. However, with the additional surcharge being added of €147 it has now risen to a total of €383 per week. This represents a massive 62.3% increase at a time when increase in rent pressure zones are limited to 2%. As a result of a new policy on assessing household rents, larger families are struggling to meet the new levels imposed by SDCC. These new rent assessments imposed by FF/FG led council came into effect from 1st April 2021.
The effects of which are only now beginning to hit home with tenants whose children are now entering the workforce. These assessments are beginning to cause huge stress on families struggling to pay these additional costs. The differential rent scheme has always meant that as family income rose so to would the rent they pay. Rents are assessed on all income going into the home. However, the new policy is aimed at adding a surcharge of an additional 10% of income to be levied upon families. This policy has meant that families whose income had grown above qualification base lines would be hit with an additional 10% surcharge. In effect all income brought in by adult children in a household is now subject to a 20% differential rent. This is a doubling of the rent that they would reasonably be expecting to contribute to the family home.
This is exorbitant rent even in the private sector whereby a family with 5 adults and additional children in the home could be paying such levels of rent to the local authority.
In November 2020 at the height of the Covid pandemic Fianna Fail and Fine Gael pushed through these changes in SDCC rent differential scheme. This resulted in what is seen as punitive charges been levied upon families with adult children living at home. This also includes charges upon those teenagers and youth who take up part time jobs to support themselves as they progress through school.
Cllr William Carey has been hugely critical of this policy and raised this during the November 2020 debate on the annual budget. Cllr Carey continued, “I identified the problems that this policy would raise including the unfairness of it and pointed to the unjust nature of the additional charges being levied. I also made clear that the increase would have a detrimental effect on family dynamics and that these increases would land on the shoulders of some of our lowest paid workers, ie, young worker’s entering into the jobs market”.
Cllr Carey added “I had a motion before the 2020 budget meeting opposing this measure which was defeated by 23 votes to 14. Those who opposed my motion were led by the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael coalition and supported by Green party including Joanna Tuffy of the Labour party (see below copy of motion taken from minutes of 2020 Budget meeting). Cllr Carey finished by noting that in the past 5yrs since rental income in SDCC has risen from €26m to €31.2m pa”.
