Rent Allowance has been cut???

gemini_girl

We are in receipt of rent allowance since last yr when my husband lost his job. Last 2 weeks our rent allowance was reduced by €12 which is apx €50 a month or €600 a yr less. I had read that the cuts would only apply to new claimants but obviously not the case. Can anyone clarify please?

regress

Rent allowance is a payment to landlords. Currently costing over €500,000,000 a year and artifically keeping rent levels much higher than they should be thereby making work unattractive for those on low pay.

IMO it is a scandal and should be abolished. The €500,000,000 saved could be given to the poor.

who_ru

regress wrote: »

IMO it is a scandal and should be abolished. The €500,000,000 saved could be given to the poor.

hear hear - a complete disgrace and a common example of how vested interests and government have ruined this country's economy.

Jesus Shaves

regress wrote: »

Rent allowance is a payment to landlords. Currently costing over €500,000,000 a year and artifically keeping rent levels much higher than they should be thereby making work unattractive for those on low pay.

IMO it is a scandal and should be abolished. The €500,000,000 saved could be given to the poor.

And how would the people availing of it pay their rent?

gemini_girl

I apologise if I wasn't clear. I wasn't asking who gets the payment, I wanted to find out if it was correct that cuts to the allowance had been made for everyone receiving it as I'd previously read that the cut would only affect new claimants. €50 cut for us means €50 less food for my children to eat as our rent hasn't been reduced

Jesus Shaves

WhiteTiger wrote: »

I apologise if I wasn't clear. I wasn't asking who gets the payment, I wanted to find out if it was correct that cuts to the allowance had been made for everyone receiving it as I'd previously read that the cut would only affect new claimants. €50 cut for us means €50 less food for my children to eat as our rent hasn't been reduced

It's for everyone, it wasn't exactly made crystal clear, don't mind the bitter posters, they have to vent their frustrations somewhere

regress

WhiteTiger wrote: »

. €50 cut for us means €50 less food for my children to eat as our rent hasn't been reduced

You don't seem to understand that this money goes to landlord not to you and the fact that rent is determined and what people can afford and sre willing to pay when Market is not massively distorted by such a subsidy. And 500k a year would plenty of frree food for anyone in the country that wanted it. Great scam for landlords to convince the poor to lobby for money for them. If there was no rent allowance rents would be significantly lower.

Jesus Shaves

regress wrote: »

You don't seem to understand that this money goes to landlord not to you and the fact that rent is determined and what people can afford and sre willing to pay when Market is not massively distorted by such a subsidy. And 500k a year would plenty of frree food for anyone in the country that wanted it. Great scam for landlords to convince the poor to lobby for money for them. If there was no rent allowance rents would be significantly lower.

Rents would be higher if there was no rent allowance

gemini_girl

Regress I see your point but this is mine. Last month my rent was 765 & i received 600 rent allowance meaning we paid 165 out of our jobseekers. This month the rent is still 765 but the rent allowance is now 550 meaning the 50 euro the land lord is expecting has to come out of our jobseekers so it is 50 euro that we need to find from another source to pay the landlord

mrsbyrne

regress wrote: »

Rent allowance is a payment to landlords. Currently costing over €500,000,000 a year and artifically keeping rent levels much higher than they should be thereby making work unattractive for those on low pay.

IMO it is a scandal and should be abolished. The €500,000,000 saved could be given to the poor.

This is fantastic! What a relief! You obviously have worked out how families who cannot afford to meet their housing needs can be housed at no cost to the state!!! Please, dont keep us in suspense any longer! Tell us how!

chasm

WhiteTiger wrote: »

We are in receipt of rent allowance since last yr when my husband lost his job. Last 2 weeks our rent allowance was reduced by €12 which is apx €50 a month or €600 a yr less. I had read that the cuts would only apply to new claimants but obviously not the case. Can anyone clarify please?

WhiteTiger wrote: »

Regress I see your point but this is mine. Last month my rent was 765 & i received 600 rent allowance meaning we paid 165 out of our jobseekers. This month the rent is still 765 but the rent allowance is now 550 meaning the 50 euro the land lord is expecting has to come out of our jobseekers so it is 50 euro that we need to find from another source to pay the landlord

I don't recall any media or Govt mentioning it was for new claimants only tbh,

http://www.welfare.ie/en/schemes/supplementarywelfareallowance/pages/rentsupplement.aspx

"It was announced in Budget 2012 that the minimum contribution towards rent will increase.

From 1 January 2012 the new minimum contribution by single tenants is now €30 (an increase of €6 per week). Couples pay a minimum of €35 per week.

Income from working as a home help for the HSE will be taken into account in the means test for Rent Supplement.

Rent limits were reduced on 1 January 2012 for new claimants. The new limits will apply to existing claimants when their claims are reviewed or if they move to new accommodation (see below for the limits)."

Bullseye1

How many people receive rent allowance of €600 a month? That is extremely generous.

Jesus Shaves

Bullseye1 wrote: »

How many people receive rent allowance of €600 a month? That is extremely generous.

why are you asking such a silly question, you do not know anything about the OP, where they live, if they have kids etc. etc.

cee_jay

Posters are reminded that this forum is STATE BENEFITS and not Irish Economy. If you wish to discuss government policy, or how Government can save money, or how there should be no rent allowance, etc. please take it elsewhere.
Please keep posts on topic to the original post.
We do not want to keep locking threads on rent allowance, and infracting posters. So please read the forum charter before posting.

regress

mrsbyrne wrote: »

This is fantastic! What a relief! You obviously have worked out how families who cannot afford to meet their housing needs can be housed at no cost to the state!!! Please, dont keep us in suspense any longer! Tell us how!

NAMA has control of thousands of empty houses and apartments. If these were given to families on welfare for a nominal rent. Say €10 a week the govt could save some of the hundreds of thousands of rent allowance payments to landlords. Social welfare payments could be increases by say €40 a week with some of the money saved. Local aurhoritues have thousands of vacant properties. These could be offered to poor instead of being left vacant.

Jesus Shaves

regress wrote: »

NAMA has control of thousands of empty houses and apartments. If these were given to families on welfare for a nominal rent. Say €10 a week the govt could save some of the hundreds of thousands of rent allowance payments to landlords. Social welfare payments could be increases by say €40 a week with some of the money saved. Local aurhoritues have thousands of vacant properties. These could be offered to poor instead of being left vacant.

what about the landlords who use the income they receive from rent allowance to pay their mortgage, would them defaulting on a mortgage make the economy any better, it seems to me that you have personal issues with rent allowance and are not thinking of the irish economy.

last post

xxlauraxxox

people out there struggling to pay mortgagaes on job seekers count yourself lucky..... we arent entitled to anything i work full time on 10e a hour and have child costs to pay out of that and food on the table....my partner has taken a 60e a week cut from his wages which brings our income down 340e a month before anything is paid for and our rent is 650e.... some people dont realise how lucky they have it

Jesus Shaves

xxlauraxxox wrote: »

people out there struggling to pay mortgagaes on job seekers count yourself lucky..... we arent entitled to anything i work full time on 10e a hour and have child costs to pay out of that and food on the table....my partner has taken a 60e a week cut from his wages which brings our income down 340e a month before anything is paid for and our rent is 650e.... some people dont realise how lucky they have it

well done

xxlauraxxox

darokane wrote: »

well done

what???? im just been realisc lol sorry i dont mean to bitch or ssnap at anyone just having my say

regress

darokane wrote: »

what about the landlords who use the income they receive from rent allowance to pay their mortgage,

Exactly my point. The OP going on about not being able to feed her children because landlords payment was being reduced annoyed me. The €500,000,000 is a subsidy to property investors and asking whether such massive transfers should be made to landlords is legitimate. Why not instead put €300,000,000 in a hardship fund and pay it out to those who need help with payments on their speculative property investments

Stop pretending that rent allowance is to help the poor. It isn't.

washman3

mrsbyrne wrote: »

This is fantastic! What a relief! You obviously have worked out how families who cannot afford to meet their housing needs can be housed at no cost to the state!!! Please, dont keep us in suspense any longer! Tell us how!

there are at least 300,000 empty houses in this country.
many of these are "NAMA houses", which means taxpayer owned.!
these houses are making absolutely nothing for the taxpayer.
place families/people receiving rent allowance in these houses and deduct a calculated amount from their benefits on a case by case basis.
The OP is currently receiving 600 allowance and contributes 165.
this 600 (taxpayers/borrowed money) goes into a black hole or rather a landlords bank account thus broadening the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
could we not for example,take €150 from the OPs benefit while placing them in a "NAMA house" and its a win-win for everyone bar the landlord, but now this "unfortunate" creature will have to come out of the comfort zone.heaven help us but he may even have to lower his rent considerably to attract tenents.
but of course this was in the foremost thoughts of the people that established NAMA in the first place, a scam to keep rents and house prices high in the hope that the crisis would blow over and protect their cronies and vested interests.

OP, my sympathy with your current situation and your husband losing his job.!

saa

regress wrote: »

NAMA has control of thousands of empty houses and apartments. If these were given to families on welfare for a nominal rent. Say €10 a week the govt could save some of the hundreds of thousands of rent allowance payments to landlords. Social welfare payments could be increases by say €40 a week with some of the money saved. Local aurhoritues have thousands of vacant properties. These could be offered to poor instead of being left vacant.

Hmmm and how many of the residential properties are not dilapidated.
And the minimum rent is €19.50

Jesus Shaves

regress wrote: »

Exactly my point. The OP going on about not being able to feed her children because landlords payment was being reduced annoyed me. The €500,000,000 is a subsidy to property investors and asking whether such massive transfers should be made to landlords is legitimate. Why not instead put €300,000,000 in a hardship fund and pay it out to those who need help with payments on their speculative property investments

Stop pretending that rent allowance is to help the poor. It isn't.

You only quoted half my comment, why is that?

Jesus Shaves

washman3 wrote: »

The OP is currently receiving 600 allowance and contributes 165.
this 600 (taxpayers/borrowed money) goes into a black hole

How do you know this goes into a "black hole"?

paddyandy

The tiny bedsit in dublin 6 when you work out /sq ft and keeping it warm is possibly the dearest accommodation in ireland??? Is this true ??

testicle

darokane wrote: »

And how would the people availing of it pay their rent?

The landlords would have to reduce their rents. The payment is keeping rent artificially high.

rabjoshu

Op, the amount you pay from your own resources has increased to €35 per week from 1 Jan, therefore the supplement has been reduced correspondingly. This was well flagged last month.

regress

darokane wrote: »

You only quoted half my comment, why is that?

The rest of your comment implied that you were a property investor who wanted govt rent allowance payments to meet mortgage repayments. If rents were to fall because of reduction in rent allowance transfers you would have difficulties making payments.

My suggestion was putting a few hundred million into a hardship fund for property speculators after abolition of rent allowance.

Jesus Shaves

testicle wrote: »

The landlords would have to reduce their rents. The payment is keeping rent artificially high.

The banks paying out high mortgages to landlords is the reason why the rent is high

gemini_girl

I'm really surprised by the negative comments. Why judge someone like that? Its not nice at all. I would give anything to be able to own my own home. For those of you thinking living on jobseekers is easy its not. I have €60 a week to feed a family of 4 inc 2 children under 3 yrs both with allergies. Myself & my husband are both suffering from depression as a result of neither of us being able to find work & because we are in such financial difficulty. We went to Mabs who done a budget for us & there is €6 a week left once everything is paid (no luxuries obviously) so how do i turn €6 into €12? That was my initial point. Yes i understand the rent allowance is the landlords but if it went directly into his account it would still be €50 less than last months so its up to us to pay that extra €50 so we are not homeless!

regress

xxlauraxxox wrote: »

..... we arent entitled to anything i work full time on 10e a hour and have child and our rent is 650e.... some people dont realise how lucky they have it

One of the most pernicious effects of the massive amounts paid out in rent allowance is that it makes us uncompetetive by making rents much higher for those working in low incomes. Subsidising investors is impoverishing low paid workers.

Jesus Shaves

regress wrote: »

One of the most pernicious effects of the massive amounts paid out in rent allowance is that it makes us uncompetetive by making rents much higher for those working in low incomes. Subsidising investors is impoverishing low paid workers.

You still haven't answered me, wonder why:D

Pin_Cushion

regress wrote: »

One of the most pernicious effects of the massive amounts paid out in rent allowance is that it makes us uncompetetive by making rents much higher for those working in low incomes. Subsidising investors is impoverishing low paid workers.

There aren't massive amounts paid out in rent allowance. Rents are high because mortgage repayments are high because of the property boom. It's not that complicated. Saying that a social welfare payment dictates the rent prices is just silly when there's probably only a tiny percentage of the population actually claiming rent allowance.

regress

WhiteTiger wrote: »

I'm really surprised by the negative comments. Why judge someone like that? Its not nice at all. I would give anything to be able to own my own home. i. Yes i understand the rent allowance is the landlords but if it went directly into his account it would still be €50 less than last months so its up to us to pay that extra €50 so we are not homeless!

If the govt were to offer you a house for €20 would you accept it? Why not. NAMA has tens of thousands of houses. In addition . Local authorities have tens of thousands of vacant houses. Why would you not accept one of those. Why do you insist that your landlord has to get extortinate rent rather than what you can afford.
And that it is the govt that should be paying your landlord. Do you really think that investors woyld get in a huff and leave properties vacant if govt cut off €500 million per tear subsidy. maybe instead they would take what people could afford to pay.

Jesus Shaves

regress wrote: »

If the govt were to offer you a house for €20 would you accept it? Why not. NAMA has tens of thousands of houses. In addition . Local authorities have tens of thousands of vacant houses. Why would you not accept one of those. Why do you insist that your landlord has to get extortinate rent rather than what you can afford.
And that it is the govt that should be paying your landlord. Do you really think that investors woyld get in a huff and leave properties vacant if govt cut off €500 million per tear subsidy. maybe instead they would take what people could afford to pay.

you really dont get it, 500 million is nothing compared to the debt we are in, again i say to you that you obviously have some sort of personal vendetta against people claiming benefits

rabjoshu

The government says half of the private rental sector gets rent supplement - a bill of €500m per year. So the rent supplement is propping up rents no question..it's not called landlords dole for mothing.

regress

Pin_Cushion wrote: »

There aren't massive amounts paid out in rent allowance. Rents are high because mortgage repayments are high because of the property boom. It's not that complicated. Saying that a social welfare payment dictates the rent prices is just silly when there's probably only a tiny percentage of the population actually claiming rent allowance.

Over 50% of rental payments to private landlords are now made through rent allowance/RAS. Rents are high because of these payments. Rent is not based on investor outgoings. It is based on supply and demand. The €500,00,00o per year paid out to landlords has a massively distorting effect on rent levels.

rabjoshu

Oh Snap!

Pin_Cushion

regress wrote: »

Over 50% of rental payments to private landlords are now made through rent allowance

Where did you get this figure?

rabjoshu

It's been highlighted in the Dail consistently since June 2010. You can find it through a search engine.

xxlauraxxox

regress wrote: »

One of the most pernicious effects of the massive amounts paid out in rent allowance is that it makes us uncompetetive by making rents much higher for those working in low incomes. Subsidising investors is impoverishing low paid workers.

ya ive to pay ,tax,prsi, and usc out of this as well like i wouldnt call it a lot when my take home pay is 350 a week and ive rent and bills,childcare costs and food to pay for u say ur down 50e a month from ur supplement think of others like us that are down a few hundred every month that have full rent, medical bills and that get no social welfare benfits only child beneifit

Pin_Cushion

rabjoshu wrote: »

It's been highlighted in the Dail consistently since June 2010. You can find it through a search engine.

Grand. Post a link there so if you don't mind.

cee_jay

Thread locked. Many bans and infractions to follow for ignoring earlier on thread warning.