Rent allowance caps, is it time for a change!

handlemaster

The rent caps in particular Dublin are alot lower than the open market value. Is it time for rent caps to be increased? Or should claimants just move outside of major urban areas to cheaper locations. They are mostly not working so going to work is not a problem. Some highlight been close to family and friends makes this move impossible ....how realistic is it for the state to expect people to move when it is the state paying for their accommodation ? If non working rent allowance receivers moved from urban centers this could make rental prices cheaper for workers...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/homeless-crisis-reaches-wicklow-meath-and-kildare-1.2103471

Gatling

In this day and age it's stupid to say you can't or don't want to move due to wanting to be close to family if your on rent supplement.
We've well developed transport networks , and modern communications,
I'm in the same situation if we get another rent increase in June we'll have zero options and will probably have to take a very bitter pill of becoming homeless , we've no close family who can take in 2 adults one in college and 2 kids .
We've actually been looking outside dublin what's actually causing us issues is the wife needing to get to college on a daily basis and finding gael scoils that aren't stupidly over subscribed .
We have friends who travel from kildare to dublin because they can't find school places locally .
For us we will now have to look into the expense of taking out loans to buy a car just to look further afield .
Now I'm not worried about the kids and friends kids are resilient little people who adapt to new surroundings easier than adults .
In parts of the UK councils who pay rent supplement they don't give families options if they find cheaper accomadation when leases are up, your going to a city or town hundreds of miles away in some cases your told your taking this option now or sign this form we discharge you from the local authorities care and your on your own .
The same should happen here imo we've heard how towns across the country have been decimated due to immigration .
Replacing forced migration with young people and families could revive small towns and increase the chance of further development outside major cities and towns .
upping rent caps won't work it will just add more and more to the welfare trap

MrMorooka

To Connaught or hell, eh?

handlemaster

MrMorooka wrote: »

To Connaught or hell, eh?

its for free.. why not ?

MarkAnthony

I agree in the most part with Gatling but due to a comple lack of proper social policy we've madness going on in Dublin. Where someone is settled and actively looking for or doing work they should get priority. It's about time we started moving people with no children and no intention of working out of Dublin City centre and into other areas.

The same goes for areas around Dublin generally with lots of people wearing PJs in the middle of the day and keeping horses. I can never understand why these people wouldn't be happier surrounded by horses, and fields etc.

mikemac1

http://www.ruralresettlement.com

There is a charity already working at this. They connect landlords with tenants looking to leave cities.

Pat Kenny interviewed a few on the radio, mostly Dubs who moved to Clare

There is an unfinished Section 23 estate in our village and if it was finished off it would be suitable for the local authority. Though every tenant better drive as there is one bus a week and the biggest employer is the Spar shop

Marcusm

The caps are not set in stone and the individual welfare officers have a statutory duty since 2013 to consider actual rental costs when making arrangements. I suspect revised "limits" are not being published to avoid a general upward repricing.

MouseTail

No, it is absolutely not time for RA rent caps to be increased. It would be a crazy economic policy to have low or mid paid workers outbid by non working social welfare recipients in areas of employment opportunities. As Gatling said, this would exasperate the welfare trap.

Mrs OBumble

I think rent caps should be abolished. There should be a housing benefit, based on broad area like the current system, and people can choose whether they move to a cheaper place - or top up and save on other things like transport, moving costs.

And before anyone comes back with "if they can afford to top up, then the benefit is too high" - it's all about choices. When I was unemployed, I could keep living in the city centre for E800, or move to the suburbs for E700 and pay E100 per month for bus fares in looking for work and doing community stuff to keep myself sane. Living in the city centre made it far easier look for jobs, and to take up temp work when it was available (phone call at 9am asking if I could cover a reception desk for someone who was sick ... sure can, will be there in 20 minutes!).

Rent caps basically say to people "you're too dumb to make trade-offs for yourself" - and really if we're going to use 'em we should go the whole hogg and offer food stamps too, to stop people making private sector food producers rich by continuing to buy their goods.

And while moving to a place with cheaper accommodation is fine for long term beneficiaries, it actually decreases the chance of getting a job for most.

by the seaside

Out of interest, what happens to the kids' schooling? Do they have to move school part way through the school year or commute back to the original school? Will the new local school take them part way through year?

Gatling

by the seaside wrote: »

Out of interest, what happens to the kids' schooling? Do they have to move school part way through the school year or commute back to the original school? Will the new local school take them part way through year?

It all depends we looked at dublin to killenny most of the schools there are pretty much over subscribed so if we did move we have to wait for a place to come avaliable anything from 2 to 4 years .
For a 6 year old that not acceptable and another due to start in September we could have enroll our 2 in separate counties .While trying to get the wife to college in Dublin .

I've heard some people have been lucky to get places for the following term others will have no option but to commute the kids to various schools
As I said above we have friends who live in kildare having to commute the kids to our local school in Dublin .
Some people might have better experiences or probably worse .

the_syco

Increase the rent caps to ensure those who work can't afford to rent a house?

It sucks that those on RA will be further away from their kids school, but why should those funding the RA be disadvantaged by those that use it?

ec18

it's a divisive issue as the people who are 'regular' renters are annoyed at having to move further away from work and the city while there are long term welfare receivers living rent free closer......raising rent allowance will only increase the rents and possibly take more regular renters out of the market....

Gatling

ec18 wrote: »

it's a divisive issue as the people who are 'regular' renters are annoyed at having to move further away from work and the city while there are long term welfare receivers living rent free closer......raising rent allowance will only increase the rents and possibly take more regular renters out of the market....

It's not rent free at all

ec18

Gatling wrote: »

It's not rent free at all

rent free from the point of view that it's paid for them by the government....I/e they aren't going out everyday to earn a wage to afford their rent

Citroen2cv

We dont want your problems thrown on us!