City Council tenants are facing rent hikes

Galway City Council is to raise the rent for its almost 3,000 Council house tenants on July 1st.

This rent increase, according to Sinn Féin, will affect those who are amongst the poorest people in the city and whose payments from social welfare are spent every week on the increasing cost of living.

“I call on the City Council to immediately address this unfair increase and to make its reversal a priority”, said Mark Lohan, Sinn Féin Area Representative for Galway City Central.

“There is much fanfare about a left-leaning rainbow pact in City Hall, but this first action on the part of the new Council is one of the most reactionary and cruel blows to working class people in our city”, said Mark Lohan, who lost his seat in May’s local election.

“While all recent attention seems to be on mayors and chairs and who occupies what preferred post, no consideration has been paid to the effect of the rent increase on our most vulnerable citizens in the city,” he said.

The Sinn Féin representative said that in the current rent scheme a Council tenant on a Disability Allowance of €203 pays €30.80 per week from that payment to the Council for rent. This is based on a formula that discounts the first €49 of income and then charges 20% of the remaining income.

Under the new formula from July 1 that tenant will pay €35. This is based on the new rental scheme of 17% of all income (rounded up to the nearest euro).

This formula will also apply to those on Jobseekers’ Allowance and those on the State pension. “These fellow Galway citizens use all of their income to live and are not in a position to earn more money. To reach into their pockets and handbags and take out €5 per week will have a negative impact on them. I know people who face fuel poverty each Winter who are in this position and the rent increase will only increase that hardship.

“Our Council housing stock is under constant need for maintenance and upgrading, to raise the rent on tenants before any of these upgrades and necessary repairs happen only adds insult to injury,” said Mr Lohan.

The new scheme also provides for no maximum rent figure and gives the Council the new power to charge extra rent for “servicing boilers etc”.

“The servicing of boilers has always been the responsibility of the landlord and to pass the cost to the tenant is wrong. This loosely defined, new, additional charge system leaves the tenant open to future charges by the Council.

“The new rent scheme is unfair and will result in increased poverty levels for our most vulnerable city council tenants. If this is a sign of the new order in city hall it bodes ill for working class citizens all across our city,” added the SIPTU trade union representative.