DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL social housing tenants are planning a protest against the first planned change to how their rent is calculated in 30 years.

Councillors were first made aware of the plans by DCC officials in October, and they were told that the hike in rents are necessary due to the projected cost of carrying out needed maintenance on social housing properties in the city. 

Some tenants could face a rent increase of up to 50% under the proposed plans, with the amount of additional rent people will be expected to pay being calculated on the basis of their income, and what category they fall into (i.e. single parent households will have a different rate). 

This kind of rent review has not been carried out by the council since 1996.

Officials told councillors that the plans aim to support revenue generation and “ensure fairness”. 

Analysis carried out in advance of the proposals stated that a significant portion of DCC’s housing stock was built between 1930 and 1977, before the introduction of new building regulations being brought in in 1991. 

With the increased revenue from raised rents, officials are planning to carry out a range of maintenance activities including roof, window and footpath repairs.

Officials told councillors that there is currently a €55.6 million funding gap between the cost of running its social housing programme and the combined income from rents and government grants. 

They also found that just over a fifth of households benefiting from the current rental cap have an income that is over €1,000 per week. 

Currently under the scheme, households are charged 15% of the primary earner’s weekly income after €32, and are charged a maximum of €21 if there is a subsidiary earner in the house. 

There is also a maximum weekly rent that a household can be charged depending on the size of their property, which officials are recommending be done away with. 

New plans

Under the new plans, households would have the first €50 of the primary earner’s income left unassessed, and would face an 18% charge on the rest of their weekly income, and there would be a €40 additional maximum charge if there is a subsidiary earner. 

The plans do try to mitigate burdening families, as they propose increasing the €1 per child weekly deduction for households with children or young adults aged 18-22 in full-time education to €2. 

The plans project that the changes would bring in an additional €35.5 million annually for the council. 

James O’Toole, a DCC tenant who led the campaign against the eviction of the Tathony House tenants, said that he is involved in organising a protest against these planned increases. 

“On average this will likely see an extra fiver taken off council house tenants a week, that is a lot of money for someone who is on the basic €240 per week rate of social benefit. 

“Particularly because people who have spent 15 to 20 years on the housing list are working low-paid jobs because generally you have to stay below a certain threshold to be on that list in the first place, so it forces people into being poorer effectively. 

“When they finally get social housing they think okay, I can try and earn a little more to save a bit and maybe even put some money away, and now this will eat into their ability to do that,” he said. 

O’Toole said that if the council is underfunded to carry out maintenance works, then the Government should increase its grants. 

“This is a big deal when food prices and the price of everything else is going up, so people are really, really angry about this,” he said. 

O’Toole said that this rent hike will hurt the poorest families in the city, and the poorest children.

The protest will take place on 1 December outside of City Hall, to coincide with the next full council meeting. 

People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy told The Journal that he is firmly against any increase in the rent being charged to council tenants. 

“I’m under the impression that we will get a vote on this, but unfortunately from early conversations it seems that they will have the numbers to vote this through,” he said. 

He said that council officials have taken into account plans that concerned councillors have raised about the plans, and he believes there will be some amendments. 

He said it seems likely to be part of the council’s next budget. 

“This should be the State’s issue, not the issue of tenants in social housing,” Reddy added. 

In a statement to The Journal, a spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: 

“The current Dublin City Council Differential Rent Scheme is under review and further information will be available when the scheme is finalised. Any changes that result from this review would be communicated to all tenants suitably in advance of any proposed changes being implemented.”