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Scrap Rent Allowance

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    #92
    OneArt
    Registered Users Posts: 1,910 ✭✭✭OneArt


    Alan 1990 wrote: »
    Not everyone in the country lives with 'housemates' some people actually have a family to support so you reckon 198 would cut it? Shopping, insurance tax diesel/petrol (if you own a car) bills and Rent included?
    ha good luck with that!!

    Well then there's a portion of single people who won't need it. It could be scrapped for them.


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    #93
    ohwell
    Closed Accounts Posts: 42 ✭ohwell


    guitarzero wrote: »
    I was renting - 250euro p/m + bills and I didnt take rent allowance. I know 2 other people who dont. I think its too much and hurting the tax payer. Maybe I'm wrong.

    Yep, you are wrong. What is hurting the tax payer aren't social programmes it's paying billions back to people who took a risk and bailing out banks. If you don't/didn't want to avail of the social services there for you that was and is entirely upto you. SW isn't too high at all not when you take a look around at the prices in this country for food, travel, services, dentists, utilities etc etc etc


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    #94
    Alan 1990
    Registered Users Posts: 207 ✭✭Alan 1990


    OneArt wrote: »
    Alan 1990 wrote: »
    Not everyone in the country lives with 'housemates' some people actually have a family to support so you reckon 198 would cut it? Shopping, insurance tax diesel/petrol (if you own a car) bills and Rent included?
    ha good luck with that!!

    Well then there's a portion of single people who won't need it. It could be scrapped for them.

    Yeah it could, but why should it be? If they paid there stamps they are entitled to it so why should it be scrapped for them? If they lost there job would you expect them to go homeless because they couldn't afford rent?


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    #95
    Jesus Shaves
    Registered Users Posts: 2,959 ✭✭✭Jesus Shaves


    guitarzero wrote: »
    I was renting - 250euro p/m + bills and I didnt take rent allowance. I know 2 other people who dont. I think its too much and hurting the tax payer. Maybe I'm wrong.

    wrong or silly?


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    #96
    inqizitve
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭inqizitve


    ohwell wrote: »
    A more affordable childcare system, great idea, where'll the money come from for it - oh yeah, the money you save getting rid of rent allowances you can instead pay to private enterprises for subsidised childcare places, wow, brilliant idea :D Or would you prefer State run kindergartens? Either way what you'll be taking away with one hand you'll be giving away with the other. And incase you didn't notice there are hundreds of thousands unemployed.....

    By all means get rid of rent allowance, instead use the houses and apartments on NAMA's books as social housing and engage on a massive social housing building project. Until then, the rent allowance ain't going nowhere. If the State won't provide social housing by buying them or building them then rent allowance will remain.

    I didn't say get rid of rent allowance, phased out its totally different.
    maybe it will be just replacing one with the other but wouldn't it be better if one could work and pay tax than not at all. And i know there are not many jobs at the moment but if there was a choice to take on a job and get the helping hand with childcare at least there would be a bit of hope for people to afford to work


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    #97
    inqizitve
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭inqizitve


    billybudd wrote: »
    Well hello crime wave.

    There really isnt enough jobs to go around, welfare is essential at this moment in time but sure for the future things do need to change, but first money has to be properly managed and accounted for by state agencies and it needs to start at the top and come down to the bottom.

    I realise there aren't enough jobs to go around, you are absolutely right welfare is essential, i think it would be a good start all the same.
    If maybe it was an option to provide childcare for the ones that are fortunate enough to find a job and reduce rent allowance in accordance with income it would gradually reduce the cost of rent allowance and give the receiver a bit of pride in earning a living and paying tax it works in England.


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    #98
    inqizitve
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭inqizitve


    yellowlabrador wrote: »
    In other European countries, properties are let unfurnished, usually with a minimum term of 3 years. The rent increases are set by the local government and is index linked. Usually the walls are painted white before you move in and tenants decorate to their own taste. Kitchens are sparse, with a sink unit and maybe a cupboard. Floors are parquet or tiles.
    The rents are much lower and landlords don't have to supply furniture. Surely, if no rent supplement was necessary, people moving into rented accommodation could be given a once in a lifetime grant to buy furniture essentials, after that they would be on their own.
    I think there would b advantages to both landlord and tenant under such a system, as people might stay many years in one property, only moving if their requirements changed. My family live in Belgium and most move every 9 to 12 years with some friends living in the same property for 40 years or more.
    That seems to be a very good and functional system, but the problem in this country is, most of the properties for rent are mortgaged hence the high price, if landlords couldn't get enough rent to cover the mortgage, insurance and make a profit off the property they wouldn't bother in the first place, it would probably work for the percentage who owe nothing on the properties.


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    #99
    Joey the lips
    Registered Users Posts: 10,262 ✭✭✭✭Joey the lips


    I am so fed up of the poor ignorence shown to the rent allowence. The rent allow is paid out because successive govts have failed to provide council and affordable housing to the unemployed and low paid since the eighties. This has resulted in a massive growth in the hhousing list which contributed to the building of private rented investor housing

    So start asking questions folks but loook in another direction


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    #100
    Mickey Dazzler
    Closed Accounts Posts: 586 ✭✭✭Mickey Dazzler


    As a landlord and an arsehole I'm delighted that the government keeps the rental market artificially high. Just delighted.

    No sympathy for dole scrounging peasants.


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    #101
    Bowlardo
    Registered Users Posts: 2,390 ✭✭✭Bowlardo


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Ok, I'll use another analogy. Let's say bread was too expensive and you wanted the government to help less well off people pay for their sliced pan. If the government were to introduce a "bread allowance" that they paid to bread producers on behalf of those who were deemed to be unable to pay for bread on their own, it would help these people afford bread.

    Problem solved right?

    Wrong.

    This is where the market economy comes in to completley undo your good work, and then some.

    Bread producers now realise that they can charge more for their product because even if it is too expensive for people to afford, the government will help them out. The price of bread skyrockets. Now the bread allowance people are once again struggling to buy their sliced pan and everyone else buying bread is also being ripped off due to the government artificially inflating the bread market.

    If in this situation the government were to partially undo the damage by reducing the bread allowance would you praise them for driving the price of bread down?

    No, you'd say they shouldn't have driven it up in the first place.

    Make no mistake about it, rent allowance has very little to do with helping the poor afford homes, and a lot more to do with lining the pockets of the buy to let landlords that inflated Fianna Fáil's friend's property bubble.

    absolutely class post


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    #102
    Grayson
    Registered Users Posts: 16,126 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    I've been looking for somewhere to live recently. And although I'm not on rent allowance, I've noticed every advert I look at says "No rent allowance".

    Rent allowance isn't driving up rents and keeping them high. It's stupid feckers who paid far too much for property in the boom years. they now have property which is in negative equity and have to keep rent high to pay for the stupidly high morgages they got.


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    #103
    Joko
    Closed Accounts Posts: 126 ✭✭Joko


    Grayson wrote: »
    I've been looking for somewhere to live recently. And although I'm not on rent allowance, I've noticed every advert I look at says "No rent allowance".

    Rent allowance isn't driving up rents and keeping them high. It's stupid feckers who paid far too much for property in the boom years. they now have property which is in negative equity and have to keep rent high to pay for the stupidly high morgages they got.

    Regardless if a landlord accepts rent allowance or not it sets the minimum price for the area. No landlord will set their rent below this.


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    #104
    Grayson
    Registered Users Posts: 16,126 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    Joko wrote: »
    Regardless if a landlord accepts rent allowance or not it sets the minimum price for the area. No landlord will set their rent below this.

    And no landlord will keep the price below their morgage. The maximum rent allowance will cover for a person with three children in Fingal is €900.

    I checked daft. There are over 200 properties with three bedrooms that are 1000 or more. There's 31 that are 1000 or less.

    The reason I went looking for that particular type of property is because I know a woman who has three kids. She's widowed and has three kids. She works full time and gets supplementary rent allowance. She's living in a really dodgy neighbourhood. But she can't move. Trying to find a three bedroomed place for 900 a month is next to impossible and because of the rent allowance, that's the most she can afford.

    If what you said is true, there should be many places available at or around what she's paying.


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    #105
    lividduck
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,250 ✭✭✭lividduck


    Grayson wrote: »
    And no landlord will keep the price below their morgage. The maximum rent allowance will cover for a person with three children in Fingal is €900.

    I checked daft. There are over 200 properties with three bedrooms that are 1000 or more. There's 31 that are 1000 or less.

    The reason I went looking for that particular type of property is because I know a woman who has three kids. She's widowed and has three kids. She works full time and gets supplementary rent allowance. She's living in a really dodgy neighbourhood. But she can't move. Trying to find a three bedroomed place for 900 a month is next to impossible and because of the rent allowance, that's the most she can afford.

    If what you said is true, there should be many places available at or around what she's paying.
    A person working full time does not qualify for Supplementary welfare Allowance Rent supplement.
    If you are going to post lies, at least do somebasic research.


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    #106
    saa
    Registered Users Posts: 2,194 ✭✭✭saa


    Ugh I hate that person who talks about how people in social housing have such a great life in their "free" housing, I live in social housing and I can't go out at night and so many places around here get burgled I go to sleep every night thinking every little sound is someone at the door again and some times of course for good measure you get woken up by a stolen car being thrashed about, I don't wear PJs on the streets I have a degree and I rented for a long time in tiny single rooms and personally I do feel like rent allowance is one area that can be cut back on, it does seem unsustainable that on top of the social housing bill there are rents being subsidised that shouldn't be that high in the first place. I'm not sure how to sort this out but we could start with our attitudes first, someone isn't the scum of the earth because they need financial assistance.


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    #107
    Grayson
    Registered Users Posts: 16,126 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    lividduck wrote: »
    A person working full time does not qualify for Supplementary welfare Allowance Rent supplement.
    If you are going to post lies, at least do somebasic research.

    I'm not lying. In general you have to be on welfare.

    http://www.welfare.ie/en/schemes/supplementarywelfareallowance/pages/rentsupplement.aspx
    You will not qualify for Rent Supplement if you are in full-time employment (30 hours or more a week). (In the case of couples, if one of a couple is in full time employment, both are excluded from claiming Rent Supplement).

    Since June 2007, if you have been accepted as being in need of accommodation under the Rental Accommodation Scheme by your local authority and you have been unemployed or not in full-time employment for at least 12 months before you start work you may be able to keep your Rent Supplement. You may also be entitled to retain Rent Supplement if you have been participating in a Community Employment Scheme or getting Back to Work Allowance immediately before you start work.

    However, you will be reassessed for Rent Supplement and some of your additional income including some of your income from employment will be taken into account. As a result of the reassessment you may or may not continue to qualify for Rent Supplement. If you do qualify for Rent Supplement you may get a different rate of Supplement.

    Of course, you can ignore this, and just resort to calling me a liar.


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