A controversial budget, which will see a rent increase for Dublin City Council tenants, was narrowly agreed at last night’s meeting of Dublin City Council.
At present, tenants pay a weekly rent based on 15% of the income of the highest earner, and an additional €15% to a maximum of €21 per occupant up to €84.
A proposed change to the system increases the same rate to 18%.
The vote passed by 31-30, with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens voting for it.
A coalition of Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, People Before Profit and various independents voted against it, with calls for Labour and the Greens to vote against the government parties falling on deaf ears.
Lord Mayor Ray McAdam (Fine Gael), said that changing the rent system was “fairer.”
He told RTÉ that the rent system for Dublin City Council tenants hasn’t been changed since 1996, saying “we have seen a scenario where those were on better incomes have actually seen a rent reduction, and what we’re trying to do is to balance things out fairly,”
Green councillor Michael Pidgeon told the Irish Independent, “Dublin City Council, along with the other Dublin councils, really charge, with good intentions, some of the lowest social housing rents in the country,” dubbing the system “bizarre and regressive” because “richer households pay less than poorer ones”.
The meeting heard that Dublin City Council borrowed €138 million for housing maintenance in 2024, and that the cost of servicing that loan was around €12 million.
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said, “increases in rents and property tax will impose further pressure on already struggling families. Families are really struggling with the cost of living crisis. People are being pushed to the pin of their collar trying to cover the cost of food, heating and fuel. The last thing working families need are increases in rents and property tax. We will use what little power we have to protect these people for further hardship.”
Doolan said “the real problem is that central government are starving Dublin City Council of essential funding to cover maintenance of council housing. The government are ignoring the needs of Dublin city. We have the highest concentration of council housing in the state, much of it not even fit for purpose. Only last month the Fianna Fail, Fine Gael government were applauding themselves on a historic budget surplus of over €9 billion. That money must be invested in housing here in Dublin.”
People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy said “Labour and the Greens voted with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to raise rents on the poorest people in this city. They had a fair, workable alternative in front of them, and they refused to take it. The consequences will be poverty, homelessness and misery for many households.”