Measures by local authority to support tenants financially

To ensure that rents “remain fair, proportionate and reasonable”, SDCC has listed several new measures to aid tenants financially as part of the new Differential Rent Scheme.

Some of these new measures include a maximum €40 weekly charge on income from subsidiary earners, the removal of €3 fixed weekly additional charge and a weekly rent discount of €10 for persons aged 65+ with state pension income only.

Tenants can also expect a weekly discount of €2 for each dependent child and the exclusion of any income from children under the age of 18 from rent calculations when the scheme comes into effect from July 1st.

It was also noted that financial burden on lower-income tenants will be limited across all tenancy types with rent as a proportion of income remaining well below commonly recognised affordability stress thresholds.

SDCC stated that “adjustments to the council’s rental income are essential to fund projected investment of over €49 million for planned maintenance work in our current three-year capital programme.”

The result of an analysis carried out by SDCC into the household income of council tenants showed that the majority of tenants earn between €10,001 – €20,000.

A total of 2,273 council tenancies fall into this income category, followed by 1,996 tenancies under the €20,001 – €30,000 category.

This analysis was carried out as part of a wider examination into a range of indicators that facilitated the development of the Differential Rent Scheme.

SDCC reported that currently, there are a total of 20,303 tenancies across six council tenancy types, with 10,512 social housing tenancies.

In preparing the scheme, the Council assessed several factors such as household income distribution across all tenancy types, including HAP and RAS and rent levels relative to new household income.

Local and national rent trends as well as future maintenance and investment requirements arising from ongoing stock condition surveys were also considered.

Following this analysis, it was found that “the majority of households are in lower to moderate income bands, with a significant concentration below €40,000 per annum.”

The Council also reported that lowest income households can expect minimum increases applied to their rent as rent under the amended Scheme are structured progressively.

“This work will enhance living conditions and home energy efficiency for tenants while being sustainably funded from equitable and affordable rents.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme