Rent Allowance/Social Housing

obnicc

Hi, looking for some advice or information. I have read the citizens advice website but I can't wrap my head around it, having a bit of a mental block!

My partner and I are in rented accommodation, he works full time, I am on Jobseeker's Allowance and we have two kids.

Could we qualify for rent allowance if our income is below a certain threshold? As it is we're literally living month to month paying rent, our rent was due yesterday and we have €2 left in our bank account until my partner gets his wages next Wednesday, we are also getting help from family every month to make sure we make our rent, so I do believe we are struggling to make ends meet.

Basically I am unsure which road to go down, could we qualify for rent allowance with my partner working, or would social housing be an option? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

wokingvoter

If you were in the county I'm in, you wouldn't get rent allowance but as long as your accommodation is under the rent limit for your county and your circumstances, you can apply to your Local Authority to be considered as In Need of Housing, and if they consider you "in need"(there is a means test) , then you can apply to them for HAP (housing assitance payment).

obnicc

wokingvoter wrote: »

If you were in the county I'm in, you wouldn't get rent allowance but as long as your accommodation is under the rent limit for your county and your circumstances, you can apply to your Local Authority to be considered as In Need of Housing, and if they consider you "in need"(there is a means test) , then you can apply to them for HAP (housing assitance payment).

Thanks. We live in Newbridge in Kildare. So the local authority housing would be the option to try? Is there a link to what the rent limits are, doesn't seem to be one on the citizens information website

athtrasna

obnicc wrote: »

Thanks. We live in Newbridge in Kildare. So the local authority housing would be the option to try? Is there a link to what the rent limits are, doesn't seem to be one on the citizens information website

Local authority housing lists are years and in some cases over a decade long. Housing assistance payment is the way to go.

Stheno

The rent limit for a family with two children in kildare in 700 euro a month

Tasden

athtrasna wrote: »

Local authority housing lists are years and in some cases over a decade long. Housing assistance payment is the way to go.

I think you need to be on the housing list in order to qualify for the payments. For rent supplement you have to be on the list/in need of housing or have been renting for 6 months privately but unable to afford this any more due to a change in circumstances, which it seems is not applicable here in that it isn't due to a job loss etc. (Some areas aren't so strict on that though).

With rent supplement once you work over 30 hours you are not eligible regardless of income. The housing assistance payment which has been brought in in certain areas to replace rent supplement (i think kildare is one those areas but not sure sorry), it is your income that is assessed with no maximum hours applied. The rates for this are the same as the rent rates of rent supplement. But i think both can be increased these days at the deciding officers discretion if you are unable to source accommodation within the set limits and can provide proof of such- printouts from daft etc.
Hope it all works out for you.

obnicc

Thank you all for replying.

My partner works over 30 hours a week, and our rent is 1000 a month which after having a look seems low for a 3 bed house in the area, I looked on daft and they are all up around 1200 and above.

I'm still a little confused, rent supplement is out of the question and we've been renting for years but I was working full time before I had my youngest child so we went down almost 2000 euro a month, I had maternity benefit and Jobseeker's then afterwards but my Jobseeker's was cut so my mother has been helping us make the rent since then, i think it may have been over the 6 months though since it was cut.

Stheno

Have you checked to see if you qualify for family income supplement?

obnicc

Stheno wrote: »

Have you checked to see if you qualify for family income supplement?

We just got the forms on Friday for that, we've filled them in but my partner has to take it to work on Monday to have them fill out a section so we haven't sent them away yet. Hopefully we will qualify for something from it.

The reason I am concerned at the moment is because the rent in the area seems to have increased by a few hundred a month and we will be two years in this property in September, and as its two years our landlord may review the rent, if they increase it we won't be able to stay or afford anywhere else.

wokingvoter

obnicc wrote: »

Thanks. We live in Newbridge in Kildare. So the local authority housing would be the option to try? Is there a link to what the rent limits are, doesn't seem to be one on the citizens information website

Yes . On citizens info if you search for rent allowance and scroll down you will see the rent limits for Kildare and your circumstances
The rent limits are the standard applied by Kildare coco aswell
The accommodation you are living in cannot be any more per month then that amount in your rent limit