Rent Allowance Scrapped for the Most Vulnerable

national | miscellaneous | feature

Friday November 14, 2003 20:38

by Roughan Mac Namara

rmcnamara at focusireland dot ie

Focus Ireland says rent allowance cuts could increase homelessness

FROM THE NEWSWIRE:

"Focus Ireland claimed today (Nov 14th) that the new changes to the SWA rent allowance system bought in by Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Coughlan could actually act to increase homelessness as the safety net of private rented accommodation is removed as an option for thousands of families and single people. Focus Ireland Chief Executive Declan Jones said: “We could now have the crazy situation where a person who is working and has been renting accommodation for less than 6 months loses their job they could find themselves homeless under the new rule where Health Boards have the power to refuse rent allowance to people who have been renting for less than 6 months.”

Mr. Jones added: “With average rents running at least 800 euro a month for a 1-bed apartment this means people could be expected to pay nearly 5,000 euro in rent over 6 months before they qualify for rent supplement.” Mr. Jones added while the Minister has said there will be provisions for exceptions in relation to people who are homeless or where there are “other compelling reasons” these have not been specified and could vary significantly across different health board areas.

Focus Ireland also maintains the private rented sector has provided a “safety net” for many people nationwide (Even though rents have rocketed in recent years) to prevent them from becoming homeless while waiting for years as one of the record total of 48,413 households on the housing waiting lists.

Mr. Jones said: “This new rule could see more people in this situation being forced into homelessness if they are refused rent allowance under these new changes. It could also mean many people (Vulnerable women and children in particular) could be stuck in an abusive relationship/household or in a very unhappy relationship as they will have no other option but emergency accommodation or living on the streets if they try and leave.”

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The Spending Estimates cut back on the rights of single mothers and the sick...

Today the spending estimates were published cutting back on several social services including hospital costs and the drug refund scheme so that the sick and people who are most in need are penalised again. This comes after it was revealed that funds from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (created to reduce waiting lists) is just being used to reopen the wards that the hospitals have had to close due to cutbacks.

One of the more dangerous cutbacks is the removal of Rent Allowance for people until they have rented for at least six months. This is ironic given that Focus Ireland have just launched a campaign to guarantee people the right to a home. One of the implications of this is that single mothers will be unable to leave their parents home, whatever the circumstances. Click the link below to e-mail you local T.D's and let them know of your displeasure.

You can add a paragraph about the spending estimates to the end of the e-mail and let our representatives(!) know that these cutbacks are not acceptable.