LETTER TO THE EDITOR: 'Affordable rent' in Mayo is anything but
Sir,
YOUR report titled 'Need to increase social housing threshold in Mayo' on a recent meeting of county councilors raises some questions.
The phrase ‘affordable housing’ must be the greatest misnomer this century, as if someone could build unaffordable houses; they’ll always be affordable for someone.
However, the more pressing phrase that needs discussing is ‘affordable rent’.
Affordable rent most frequently and exclusively occurs in social housing, i.e. provided by county councils or approved housing bodies.
To qualify for such housing, or to qualify for a HAP contribution, there is a threshold of an annual income of €30,000, or slightly more depending on the number of children the applicant has.
Earn a fiver over that threshold and the council’s computer 'will not accept the application'.
Therefore, it is likely workers will be the ones excluded from affordable rent or HAP. Let’s call them the working poor.
One should not spend more than 30% of one’s income on accommodation, yet workers are rarely able to adhere to that advice.
An irony here is that workers paying extortionate rent from after-tax wages will often be poorer than those who qualified for social housing or HAP!
“Reduce your hours and you’ll qualify,” some have been told, which shows all is weighted against working and workers.
Another irony here is that HAP has the unintended consequence of causing high rents generally, as has been documented by Social Justice Ireland, and others.
Yet even for tenants in receipt of HAP (i.e., in privately rented accommodation), they frequently need to subsidise their rent with cash ‘under the counter’ from their social welfare because the rent exceeds the HAP rent limit, thus causing hardship for tenants – ask any volunteer with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Your report quotes Councillor Peter Flynn saying “There’s nothing anyone in this room can do.” This was in reply to the councillors agreeing that thresholds are 'ridiculous'.
However, thresholds are not uniform nationally. Roscommon’s is higher than that of Mayo’s so there has to be flexibility, and the councilors are in a position to lobby on behalf of their electorate to change this dystopian situation.
The result of this system is a generation of decent, hard-working young couples who can’t afford to rent or to buy.
And here’s the ugliest irony of all: HAP and social housing is paid for with the taxes the government helps itself to from the wages of the working poor who can’t afford to rent or buy!
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Blendell, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.