Cork County Council to look at hardship cases in rent review

Cork County Council has promised to look into hardship cases after a new rent system introduced for its tenants saw an 80-year-old man’s rent double overnight.

Cork County Council to look at hardship cases in rent review

The council’s director of housing, Maurice Manning, made the promise after Cllr Timmy Collins said he had spoken with the upset tenant who saw his rent increase from €27 to €54 per week.

Cllr Collins acknowledged the council had flagged rent increases to its tenants, but said the elderly man’s increase was massive.

“That’s a huge increase to take out of his pension. He did expect an increase, but nothing like that,” Cllr Collins said.

The council has not increased rents since 2014 for the vast majority of its tenants. Those living in former town council areas paid significantly lower rents than those living outside them and the county council is now equalising rents all over the county.

A number of councillors attending a meeting of its Northern Division said they are concerned that family income supplement (FIS) is now being included in the calculation of household income.

Cllr Melissa Mullane said that should be discontinued, especially as FIS was there simply to bring up wages to a “living standard” because “some employers are not paying workers a decent wage”.

She said including FIS in calculating rents was “a horrendous act by the council”.

Cllr June Murphy, who is chairman of the divisional committee, said she had spoken to some families whose rents recently jumped by 60%. She claimed rent increases should have been gradually introduced, especially when it came to equalising those paid by tenants in former town council-owned houses with the rest of the county.

Cllr Murphy agreed with Cllr Mullane that FIS should not be included in overall household income calculations. “Some families have seen an extra €30 per week rise, which is a lot when you’re budgeting. They’re saying it’s no incentive to go out to work,” she said.

Cllr Murphy said she knew of one family who faced a significant rent increase where the father was on FIS and had to provide for two college-going children, one sitting the Junior Cert, and a toddler.

Cllr Gerard Murphy said FIS was introduced by the Government in order to give families a living wage.

“It’s not logical to give it to them with the one hand and take it off them with the other,” he said.

Cllr Noel McCarthy agreed with his comments.

“I never saw so many families so upset by this. It hit them like a bombshell,” Cllr Frank O’Flynn said.

Mr Manning said the majority of council rents hadn’t been reviewed since 2014 and the local authority had written to every tenant asking them to update current household income levels.

He said that it was his understanding that other local authorities were also using FIS in their household income calculations and said that, in the main, a rise in household incomes was leading to a rise in rents.

The senior official said the council had also increased its rent allowance discount for dependent children and non-working adults.

Mr Manning maintained the average rise is just €7 per week. However, he said he was prepared to examine hardship cases, just like the ones mentioned by Cllr Murphy and Cllr Collins.

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