Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State is welcome. I tabled this matter in order to ask the Government to consider increasing the income threshold for housing assistance supports from the current rate of €30,000 for a family in band 3 - which includes those in my county of Mayo - to €50,000. I have tabled this matter on foot of a motion that was passed by councillors in Mayo calling for just that. We have been looking for this for a very long time. It is quite obvious that the income thresholds that are currently in place are extremely low. There are three bands, with €30,000 as the upper limit in a county like Mayo. It goes up above €40,000 in Dublin. That is still extremely low by any standard. It essentially precludes low-income working families and households from accessing social housing supports. We need to change this. We need to make sure social housing is available for many more people. We know the demand and the need is there. I do not think there is any public representative in this country who does not know about the need to expand the threshold and increase the income limits. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply. I know there is a review ongoing in the Department on this issue. I would welcome an update that I might pass on to my colleagues on Mayo County Council.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for tabling this matter. I also thank her council colleagues for putting forward such a timely motion, which is very important to ensure that people have access to secure housing.

A standard system for assessing applicants for social housing support was introduced in 2011. The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band were based on an assessment of the income needed to provide for a household's basic needs, plus a comparative analysis of the local rental cost of housing accommodation across the country. Housing for All was published in September 2021 and contained a commitment to reviewing income eligibility for social housing. The review has been completed and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has recently approved implementation of its recommendations. The review is now available on the Department’s website.

On foot of the review, the Minister has approved proposals to scope and develop options for a revised or new social housing income eligibility model. The exercise will assess the suitability of the current framework, having regard to the significantly changed landscape since it was introduced, and will make recommendations for an approach and income thresholds for Mayo and all other counties that reflect current and future needs. This work will commence shortly under the aegis of the Housing Agency, which will be tasked with commissioning it. It is expected that the work will be completed in the first quarter of 2023.

Pending its completion, the Minister has also approved changes to the social housing income eligibility bands for five local authorities, namely, Carlow, Clare, Galway county, Laois and Westmeath. These counties have been moved from band 3 to band 2 of the income eligibility framework. Accordingly, the baseline income eligibility threshold for these areas has increased from €25,000 to €30,000. The change reflects the significant movement in rents in these areas in recent years and ensures local authority areas with similar accommodation costs will continue to be grouped together in the respective bands. The changes came into effect on 1 October last. The Minister believes it is now appropriate to await completion of the substantive review before deciding on the revised income threshold levels for Mayo and other counties, given the potential impact of any changes that will arise.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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The Senator was very concise in her request and the Minister of State was very concise in his reply, so they both have extra time.

Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State's response.It is good to see that the Government is finally moving on this and that a review has been conducted. There should be a greater level of urgency. It is hoped to have it in quarter 1 in 2023, but we should be demanding to have it at that stage. People are struggling to meet their housing needs and we know there are particular challenges in all counties. I welcome that some counties have moved up from band 3 to band 2. One could say that maybe other counties should have been moved also. In Mayo, for example, the income eligibility threshold being down at €25,000 and €30,000 between a single person and a family is extremely low. When looking for a three-bedroom property three or four years ago, a person could reasonably expect to get one to rent for in the region of €700 or €800. Now it is about €1,400. This has just happened in the past three or four years. The increase in rent in the last number of years in a county such as Mayo has been absolutely phenomenal. If one checks daft.ieor other rental websites or local auctioneers on any given day, one will find in the region of 20 properties to rent in total for the entire county.

I completely support the call by councillors and the county councils to increase the income thresholds to a level that includes people who are working but are on lower incomes. The fact that we have a housing support system in place that effectively precludes anybody who has a job and is working is not good for society, it is not good for mixed tenure development, and it is not good for the way local authorities operate. We are getting this directly from local elected members who are on the ground and working in this space. They know the housing need in their areas. The councillors in Mayo know the housing need in the area and they have made a direct request to the Minister of State, the Minister and the Government to address that deficit. I ask the Minister of State now that we would have a little bit more detail as to when the review and the recommendations will be implemented. When will we see a direct correlation between that and the actual supports being available on the ground?

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Chambers for raising this matter. I will raise it with the Minister. When speaking last night in the debate on RTÉ1, the Minister committed to having the review before the end of the year. I will communicate this to him and to the Housing Agency, which is under the aegis of the Department, to speed up that review. I really do appreciate that so many citizens are caught in a trap of not being able to access housing and government supports, which are so vital for them to sustain a tenancy. This is very important. We really do need to ensure that this report is expedited insofar as possible. We will work to do that. I will talk to the Minister, on foot of what the Senators has said, in order to see if we can get it completed before the end of the year. I really do appreciate the urgency. As I travel around the country, this issue is raised by many councillors on a weekly basis.