City Council not offering cash incentives to letting agents

Galway City Council has not followed the lead of local authorities in Dublin, where letting agents are to be given financial incentives to rent housing to homeless families in emergency accommodation.

Last week, it was revealed that Dublin’s four local authorities, under the auspices of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), have begun paying letting agencies a €500 fee in return for every Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenant that moves into a property on their books.

A spokesperson for the Council told the Galway City Tribune that they do not provide a placement fee in order to secure a tenancy for homeless families.

“A deposit and up to two months’ rent payment in advance can be provided to any landlord/agent on behalf of homeless clients, under the Homeless HAP Place Finder Service Circular in order to secure a tenancy.

“This resource was made available in all 31 local authorities on the 19th January 2018 after having been piloted in Dublin Local Authorities and Cork City Council.

“The service was introduced to assist homeless households in securing accommodation where the high demand and low levels of supply make the rental market very challenging,” said the spokesperson.

Since the scheme was unveiled, there has been some criticism levelled against the Department of Housing as landlord representatives accused the State of undermining trust between landlords and their agents – fearing the move would influence any decision over who a property should be leased to.

Local councillor Pádraig Conneely echoed these concerns and said it was only right that Galway City Council didn’t immediately follow-suit.

“I think this is something that has been bounced off us very quickly and it needs to be looked at a bit more closely before any action is taken.

“More research needs to be done and the real impact of introducing a scheme like this has to be considered,” said the Fine Gael councillor.

Meanwhile, the most recent figures show that 304 people were homeless in the Western Region between the months of July and September.

In Galway, there were 46 families in private emergency accommodation, with a further 13 in ‘transitional’ accommodation in the city.

Both the Fairgreen Hostel and Osterley Lodge were at capacity, catering for 26 men and 13 women respectively.

The Cold Weather Response to homelessness for winter 2018 will be operational from November 26 and this year, there will be 30 beds available shared over two locations on the west side of the city.

Some 4,027 applicants remained on Galway City Council’s housing waiting list at the end of September.