Dublin social housing tenants ramping up rent hike protests ahead of budget vote

Dublin social housing tenants plan to escalate their campaign against controversial rent hikes, demanding a reversal in the November budget amid frustration over the lack of promised maintenance improvements

Dublin City Council tenants aim to “escalate” their rent hikes’ protest and push for the increases to be reversed in the council’s November budget.

Social housing tenants in Dublin city controversially had their rents increased last April with the introduction of a new Differential Rent Scheme . Coming in the midst of a cost of living crisis, those affected said they couldn’t afford the higher rates, which DCC claimed were required to make up for a shortfall in their housing maintenance budget.

With average rents increasing from €83 to €108 a week, tenants across the board saw an approximately 13% increase in rates, which are based on household income. Since its introduction, tenants have protested outside City Hall at every subsequent DCC monthly meeting.

Chanting phrases like “No way we won’t pay” and “Richard Shakespeare you won’t win, put your rent hikes in the bin,” in reference to the Chief Executive who oversaw the increase, attendees included tenants, politicians, and CATU representatives.

The outrage against these increases has not subsided, and housing activist James O’Toole spoke to Dublin Live about their plans to return to City Hall on September 7 and demand the hike be reversed. With another budget due to be voted on for approval in the coming months, he believes there has been enough pushback on the issue to make the majority of councillors second guess continuing to support the higher rates.

View 3 Images Demonstrators' signed placard opposing the introduction Dublin City Council's new Differential Rent Scheme

“ The vote last year was 31 to 30 . You don't get a vote on the rent. It's part of the overall budget. But we made rent such an issue last year that actually it became part and parcel of the budget debate,” he said.

As a budget that got through on a single vote, Mr O’Toole said “it shows how narrow the margins are” and that “with a bit of effort” they could shift the upcoming vote in their favour. “Then they have to go away and re-discuss or re-negotiate the budget,” he said.

The push to raise social housing rents has not just been felt in Dublin city, as last year’s budget approval saw other local authorities in Dublin and around the country put forward their own plans to raise rents for social tenants. “There’s an agenda of driving social housing rents up and penalising people for working when they're in social housing,” Mr O’Toole said.

As the cost of living soars, Mr O’Toole believes what little disposable income working-class people have is being taken away from them. “Disposable income is a pathway to more stable communities. Raising those rents is quite reactionary because you want to be giving people an incentive to work,” he said.

The result of the rent increases, according to Mr O’Toole, is higher rents on social housing which in turn also raises the rates in the private market. “I know people in the private sector are being crucified,” he said, stating that is exactly why the social housing sector must be protected in a way that’s sustainable for those within it.

Another major point of frustration among council tenants is the fact that rents were raised to put funding towards housing maintenance, but those within social housing communities feel like they are not seeing the benefit of those increases. When the hike went through, DCC said it would bring an extra €33 million more each year, but tenants feel like they are being let down.

“I was leafleting in Oliver Bond yesterday and people laughed when I said ‘your increased rent is going to go toward maintenance’. They thought it was just silly. It's actually really ridiculous to most tenants that anyone would claim that there's going to be increased maintenance, because nobody sees evidence of that,” he said.

“There's broken windows, there's litter around the place. Even brand new estates are already being neglected. The maintenance argument doesn't stand up.”

For these reasons, Mr O’Toole said they will continue their protest at both the September and October monthly meetings outside City Hall demanding the hikes are reserved. Adding to this, he encourages people to email their local councillors and write to them on behalf of residents’ associations.

“Whatever way people can contact them to say, ‘Listen, this is a regressive move and we want councillors to vote to reserve it in the budget’.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair previously told Dublin Live the complaints he’s hearing are the “exact same that I would have been getting this time last year”. He said he has not noticed a sizable increase in housing maintenance since the increases were brought in.

“I don't think people have noticed an improvement in maintenance. I think a lot of the issues that were there beforehand - poor response times, things dragging out, work taking a long time to get resolved, often no replies - all of those issues are still there,” he said.

View 3 Images Sinn Fein Councillor Ciaran O Meachair and protesters outside City Hall prior to Dublin City Council's budget vote (Image: Stephen Holland)

Having conducted maintenance surveys at various complexes around his South West Inner City constituency, Cllr Ó Meachair said it’s clear Dublin 8 tenants are frustrated that they haven’t seen much demonstrable improvement since the increases were implemented. “The council said when they increased the rent that it would be going towards improvement maintenance,” he said.

“Unfortunately, from the experience we’ve had so far with the survey it doesn’t look like there’s been much of an uptick. Obviously it’s just anecdotal evidence calling round to doors, but it leads to more anger and frustration among people that are paying higher rents now.

“The promise was there that increased money would go towards maintenance. So far, that doesn’t seem to have been the case.”

Dublin City Council officials may very well take issue with this assessment, as councillors were briefed with presentations last April on how they are making changes to how they carry out maintenance works. This includes a pivot from a ‘reactive’ approach to a planned maintenance system.

In presentations delivered to various area committees, Senior Engineer Robert Buckle spoke about the complexities of carrying out repairs on the approximately 27,000 dwellings within the council’s stock. With around 80% of these constructed prior to the introduction of the Building Regulations in 1991, it’s not surprising that their maintenance needs are vast and varied.

This planned maintenance approach means that repair works on the problems outlined by tenants to Cllr Ó Meachair may very well be incoming, but he stresses this does little ease their concerns if it’s not communicated to them. Cllr Ó Meachair described the approach as “haphazard” and said that if there are timelines for planned maintenance works at the various dilapidated complexes around his constituency he hasn’t seen them.

The biggest issues relate to damp, mould, and the deterioration of buildings, but Cllr Ó Meachair said that even basic issues aren’t getting actioned. “In one of the complexes at Islandbridge one of the main complaints is a lack of cleanliness of the stairwells, just the fact they haven’t been power washed in a really, really long time.”

Residents told Cllr Ó Meachair they raised this issue with their local estate officer and it’s been brought to DCC, but it still doesn’t get done. “If they just got a bit of movement on some of the more simple things like that they might get more buy-in from the public,” he said.

While it’s understandable that it might take some time before people can fully see the impact of higher rents on maintenance works, Cllr Ó Meachair stressed that it is currently the best time of the year to ramp up repairs. “Summer is traditionally a good time for getting things done because the weather's nicer,” he said.

“In the depths of winter - if there’s dampness, mould, leakage issues, ventilation problems - it’s a lot tougher for the council to get works done because they are battling against the elements. There might be weather warnings and heavy rain which slows down the progress of addressing maintenance.

“I think it’s frustrating that the rent increase happened and we’ve had a fantastic few months of good weather where maintenance work could have been acted on. It doesn’t really seem to have happened.

“We’re going to head into winter now where they might not be able to act on the issues. We could come again to this time next year where we’re still banging on the door and asking questions about when these things are going to get done.”

A statement from Dublin City Council following the announcement of a new Differential Rent Scheme said: “The additional income will fund improvements to our existing homes and will ensure the City Council can take a more financially sustainable approach to the maintenance of homes. The types of work will include; energy efficiency upgrades; boiler replacements; improvements to our flat complexes and communal areas; replacement of windows, doors and roofs; and adaptations to existing homes.”

Social housing tenants will be protesting outside City Hall in advance of the next monthly Dublin City Council meeting on September 7 at 5:45pm.

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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