Dublin City Council agree to review rent hike imposed on tenants last April

The rent hike imposed on Dublin City Council tenants last April has seen consistent pushback from those impacted, and at last night's council meeting it was agreed to review the increases "at the earliest possible opportunity"

Dublin City Council has agreed to review the rent increases imposed on social housing tenants.

Rent increases introduced last April have seen consistent pushback from affected tenants, who have protested outside every subsequent full council meeting since. A motion submitted by Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan at last night’s council meeting expressed concern about the extreme financial pressure tenants are already under to pay for fuel, food bills, gas and electricity.

He asked that council review the increase “at the earliest possible opportunity” and this request was unanimously supported. While some councillors stood firm that the increase was needed to cover a deficit in the council’s housing maintenance budget, the “murky” data on how extra money raised since April has actually been spent saw everyone back a review.

“Many tenants are living in overcrowded, mouldy and damp conditions . I have seen them for myself - whole blocks of council flats riddled with damp. I believe it is unacceptable that these tenants are now forced to pay more rent with little or no hope of improved housing conditions,” Cllr Doolan stated.

He highlighted the impact of the increases on HAP and RAS tenants , who face not only increased rents from the council but after additional top up payments to landlords. These are tenants that “will never benefit from the promised maintenance programme” despite higher rates.

Cllr Doolan also pointed out the plans to move the council’s headquarters from their current Wood Quay offices to a new site at Camden Yard. Estimates have the total cost of the relocation priced at up to €670 million.

“This vanity project will cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of euros. This clearly shows that there is money when senior management wants funds, but there are no funds to improve the quality of life for our tenants. That’s not lost on the people we represent in this city,” he said.

The word ‘crisis’ is one that’s been bandied around quite a lot in recent times, but Social Democrats Cllr Cat O'Driscoll believes officials have lost sight of what it actually means. She opposed increasing rents on already struggling, vulnerable tenants and said maintenance funds should be found elsewhere. Housing allocation is currently “a lottery,” Cllr O'Driscoll said, highlighting that council tenants have no control over the BER rating of their homes which affect how big their energy bills are.

Independent Cllr John Lyons said he was "embarrassed" by the council’s decision to approve the rent increases at the budget vote last November. This is a decision he said that fundamentally misunderstands the true levels of hardship faced by tenants, with Cllr Lyons stating it’s clear not everyone is engaged with the realities of their community.

“I don’t think they understand just how difficult it is when it comes to food and fuels and you are literally making a decision about whether you have to skip another meal in order to put food in front of your kids,” he said. “At a time when everything is only going one way, we have a duty; we have failed the people and need to reverse that.

When the rent hikes were introduced, Green Party and Labour representatives were criticised by other councillors on the left for failing to support tenants by blocking the budget, which was passed by a single vote . People Before Profit Cllr Conor Reddy urged those councillors to now reassess their views on the increase, pointing out that Labour councillors in particular “need to get their story straight” as the party doesn’t have a consistent stance across different local authorities.

Labour Cllr Dermot Lacey stressed that when they voted on the rent hike in the budget, this was a vote for a review of the rent structure and he attested that this meant rent went down for some constituents. He said that he supports a review at this point and that the important thing is management deliver on their promised maintenance.

“We need to have detailed reports, because, if we don’t, we can’t sell what we promised to the people of this city,” he said.

Green Party Cllr Michael Pidgeon stood by his decision to support the rent increases last November on the basis that there is “a direct line” between "inadequate conditions” faced by tenants and the low amount of maintenance funds raised. But, he agreed it is “perfectly reasonable” to now review how it is working. “Regularly reviewing things is good practice,” he said.

Another key aspect of the rent hikes that councillors expressed dissatisfaction with is the hardship clause, which was a promise by the council that tenants facing “undue hardship” may have their rates amended in exceptional circumstances. Independent Cllr Pat Dunne said he had been contacted by a tenant in an exceptional situation, but there is very little information available on how this process works.

Sinn Féin Cllr Janice Boylan spoke about a household who have had their rent raised by €200 a week who applied for a reduction and “haven’t heard a thing back”. She criticised the council for poor response times, failing to address even those in need of urgent, emergency repairs, and described the lack of communication as “disgraceful”.

Cllr Doolan’s motion to review the rent increases was unanimously approved and is set to be brought to the Housing SPC for further discussion.

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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