Rent Allowance in Wicklow Advice Query

Sinead1991

My partner and I have been co-habitating since April 2011. We have both recently finished our 3 years in college and will be leaving the house sharing we have been living in since 2012 and moving to Arklow as it's cheaper than living in the dublin area and we no longer want to house share.

We were in receipt of 188 euro each a week on the Back to Education Scheme but now that we're ending college in May we will be cut to 134 each on the Jobseekers which isn't alot to live off (However when we first left home we lived on just 100 euro each for the first year so i guess its a little better). We will both be looking for employment obviously but want to go rent allowance to help us while we're looking.

We are both 23 and attempted to get it when we were 20 but the Council told us no and everybody we dealt with was very rude so we became dejected and stopped trying.

Does anybody have any information/advice as to how to go about applying for the rent allowance again?

Sorry for the essay.

Thanks in advance

amtw

These are the conditions that you must meet to qualify for Rent Supplement

"
You may get Rent Supplement if you have been living for 6 months (183 days) out of the last 12 months in one, or a combination, of the following:

• Accommodation for homeless people.
• Private rented accommodation. You can combine time living in more than one rented accommodation to satisfy the 6 months (183 days). You must be able to show that you could afford the rent at the beginning of your tenancy and that you could have continued to pay rent but are unable to do so because of a change in your circumstances which occurred after you started renting.
• An institution, for example, a hospital, care home or place of detention.

Or

• Have been assessed by a local authority as being eligible for and in need of social housing in the last 12 months. If you don't have a housing need assessment, you must go to the local authority to have your housing need assessed. The local authority must be in the area that you intend to live and claim Rent Supplement. Only when you are assessed as eligible for and in need of housing can you apply for Rent Supplement. Rent Supplement is not payable while the local authority is carrying out a housing needs assessment.

I don't think you fulfill the criteria in that unless you were working and lost your job before going to college then you won't be able to meet the 2nd set of circumstances above. Arklow Town Council are unlikely to assess you has having a housing need in their area unless you can show a strong connection to that community.

Sinead1991

Wel i do follow the criteria because of been renting out of home for 3 years not 6 months. I could afford to rent the house sharing accommodation because I was on Back to education allowance but will be cut by 50 euro each per week which is a situation in our circumstance that happened after we started renting.

AndI'm from Arklowand all my family live there and we lived there for the first year together, so I'd call that a fairly strong connection.