Flexible council approach to tenancies is welcomed

By Maurice Garvey

A DECISION by Dublin City Council to allow separate family tenants to co-habit a home in Ballyfermot, is something Independent councillor Vincent Jackson hopes will signal the beginning of a more flexible approach to the housing crisis.

A mother-of-two was living at a Drumfinn home, but was faced with an uncertain future and potential short-term stints in hotels and B&Bs when the landlord decided to sell up.

She is the registered carer for her elderly mother, who lives close by in Drumfinn with her son – the younger mother’s brother.

Initial attempts to work out a solution with the local authority, whereupon all five could live together in the same three-bed council house, looked to be getting nowhere, until Cllr Jackson intervened on the family’s behalf.

Receiving confirmation this week from the local authority that an agreement had been worked out, Jackson said he welcomed the council’s “flexible approach.”

Cllr Jackson said: “Hopefully this is a dose of reality, and that the city council can now deal with each situation on a case by case basis. Her mother is in her late 80s and not well, and she is the registered carer, and needs a place to live.

“This will save the taxpayer €900 a month. There is a misconception that if five people can’t live in a two-bed, that we need to build big palladiums. But we have no resources, no money. We are facing a major housing crisis and it needs flexibility.”

Dublin City Council said it doesn’t comment on individual housing cases.

Jackson also slated the decision to outlaw bedsits, which increased the housing list “overnight at the stroke of a pen.”

However, he also highlighted the lack of protection for landlords, who have no recourse if a tenant decides to “not pay rent and/or trash the house.”

“One landlord I know in Ballyfermot, the tenant didn’t pay rent for nine months. She trashed the place, yet continued to receive her social welfare for the nine months, and was given a new place.

“It cost the home owner – who was renting this out as her retirement pension – thousands to repair. We need landlords, but everytime you hear about one on RTÉ, it’s bad landlords.”