Time to increase social housing income threshold – Mayo councillor

THE income threshold to qualify for social housing needs to be upped.

That's the view of Councillor Gerry Murray who has highlighted the plight many people face - not earning enough to get a mortgage but above the income limit for a council home.

Another crisis facing is the housing sector highlighted by Councillor Murray is that of people heading towards retirement who won't have the means to pay their rent when they retire.

Speaking at a municipal meeting, Councillor Murray said he knew of people on the housing list who are working and when offered a house, their income is then reviewed and they have found they are above the threshold.

It needs to be upped, he said, as they don't qualify for a mortgage or social housing. And with rents up to €1,300 in his area, a strategy is needed to help people coming up to pension age who face being homeless when they retire as they won't have the means to pay their rent.

Councillor Neil Cruise said Housing For All is cutting off an awful lot of people, and he wondered is it time to put a weighting on the income limits and not have them as the be all and end all in relation to the provision of housing.

Was it also time to combine schemes to provide for social and affordable housing, he said, noting there is a cohort of young people leaving the country as they know they will never get on the property ladder.

The income limits are out of date, he said, and no one is taking into account cost of living inflation.

Let's make it housing for all, he said. Put a weighting on income limit, not a 'you're out' because of your income level.