Council house

beam99

A friend of mine is getting a newly built council house in the new year
How much money is normally given to help furniture it?
Thanks

Plumbthedepths

beam99 wrote:

A friend of mine is getting a newly built council house in the new year How much money is normally given to help furniture it? Thanks

It depends on their circumstances, if they are working they will get nothing but the keys of the house.

cgcsb

How incredibly fortunate for your friend.

3putt

A free house and free furniture as well. This country is a joke

Plumbthedepths

3putt wrote:

A free house and free furniture as well. This country is a joke

Free house? Council tenants pay rent based on their income. Shocking as it sounds working people are also fortunate to get a council house but do not qualify for a grant for basic appliances..but hey keep up the ill informed outrage. Happy new year btw.

satguy

3putt wrote: »

A free house and free furniture as well. This country is a joke

This country is great ...

If your job goes bust and you have to sign on, there is help.

If the bank repossess your home and when the bailiffs beat you up so that the bank can have your home to sell to a vulcher fund, there is help.

Klonker

Plumbthedepths wrote:

Free house? Council tenants pay rent based on their income. Shocking as it sounds working people are also fortunate to get a council house but do not qualify for a grant for basic appliances..but hey keep up the ill informed outrage. Happy new year btw.

You're right it's not free, you pay about €100 a month, oh and it's optional. Maybe it's not legally optional, but if you don't pay like a lot don't, there are no consequences.

cgcsb

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Shocking as it sounds working people are also fortunate to get a council house but do not qualify for a grant for basic appliances..

*raises hand* I'd also like a grant for basic appliances.

Seriously though if your friend is fortunate enough to have been granted a council home (be it free if he's unemployment or heavily subsidised if he is employed), he'd hardly go looking for more generosity even if it were available...surely??

The dole in Ireland is about €11,000 per year and in order to qualify for social housing in County Offaly you need to be earning under €29,000 (or €25,000 after tax). Surely between €11k and €25k there is some scope to buy some essentials for yourself? The welfare state has gotten stretched way too large and has left the most vulnerable suffering and middle classes increasingly dissatisfied with value for money. Something has to change, calling into Joe Duffy isn't enough anymore, there'll be a rise in populism and/or the far right if this keeps up.

Plumbthedepths

Klonker wrote:

You're right it's not free, you pay about €100 a month, oh and it's optional. Maybe it's not legally optional, but if you don't pay like a lot don't, there are no consequences.

As a former council tenant who has always been in employment I can happily say you are talking through a part of your anatomy other than your mouth. Differential rent is what councils base rent on, there is consequences too but again feel free to rant I'm sure the equally I'll informed will thank your post.

3putt

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Free house? Council tenants pay rent based on their income. Shocking as it sounds working people are also fortunate to get a council house but do not qualify for a grant for basic appliances..but hey keep up the ill informed outrage. Happy new year btw.

Ye not much rent. Itd come nowhere near what a mortgage would cost on the property. But hey who cares . let the rest of us make the rest of the money up to pay for it in tax. What else do they want . Sure will we get them a cleaner too?

Plumbthedepths

3putt wrote:

Ye not much rent. Itd come nowhere near what a mortgage would cost on the property. But hey who cares . let the rest of us make the rest of the money up to pay for it in tax. What else do they want . Sure will we get them a cleaner too?

Council rent is based on a percentage of income, so what may not seem alot to you is different for someone else.

3putt

satguy wrote: »

This country is great ...

If your job goes bust and you have to sign on, there is help.

If the bank repossess your home and when the bailiffs beat you up so that the bank can have your home to sell to a vulcher fund, there is help.

Not everyone is entitled to sign on. Think again.

3putt

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Council rent is based on a percentage of income, so what may not seem alot to you is different for someone else.

Im not on great money. Still have to pay a big mortgage. Any help for me?

Plumbthedepths

3putt wrote:

Im not on great money. Still have to pay a big mortgage. Any help for me?

No idea, have always managed to pay my bills without looking for help.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Thread moved to State Benefits - please take note of the forum charter before posting again. Thanks.

hawkelady

Here’s an idea. Has your friend thought of saving a few quid to buy some furniture himself , or maybe get a small credit union loan to buy the furniture ??? Just an idea , like !! Ffs

3putt

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

No idea, have always managed to pay my bills without looking for help.

Me too, but wouldn't be great if everything was handed to you.

Sure why do the rest of us even bother

Plumbthedepths

3putt wrote:

Me too, but wouldn't be great if everything was handed to you.

I'm happy to be able to pay my way, but I realise not everyone can and as a society we have elected governments that have put in place a welfare system that takes care of those that can't. Anyway I addressed the OPs question I'm out.

lolokeogh

yes depends on what income is coming in to the house,higher ofcourse if theres more working etc etc..and as stated they do not let you away with not paying rent,,thats for sure,

3putt

Im not against social housing but looking for extra to furnish as well just boils my blood. That's it im out too.

tayto lover

Anyone like a maid?

Getting a council house is great but getting a furniture grant too is way over the top.

oLoonatic

read the title of this thread and thought, what could possibly go wrong.....

Klonker

lolokeogh wrote: »

yes depends on what income is coming in to the house,higher ofcourse if theres more working etc etc..and as stated they do not let you away with not paying rent,,thats for sure,

Ahem, looks like they do!

http://www.publicpolicy.ie/local-authority-rent-arrears-in-dublin/

pc7

Tell them to try local facebook selling pages or freecycle pages, they should pick a few bits up there to tie them over if they are really stuck. Not sure if they get money to furnish it.

surrender monkey

They can get a one off means tested payment called an exceptional needs payment to help with white goods, beds etc.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/exceptional_needs_payments.html#l62fd2

Boxcar_Willie

And the exceptional needs payment is available to anyone who qualifies , not just council tenants.

cee_jay

As this thread was moved from another forum, some posts are very much contravening this forum's charter - please take note of the charter, and ensure all posts are helpful and constructive, and not welfare bashing. TY.

wifey28

Hello OP

Yes your friend can apply to their cwo for an exceptional needs payment. This is means tested so theyll need to provide payslips and bank statments etc. And they will also need to provide proof of getting the house, the payment will not be made until you have the keys and in alot of cases they will ask for proof that the house is comepletly unfurnished, this can be shown by pics of the rooms and halls in the house.
The payment if they fall within the means test wont be a huge amount, iremember reading somewhere that the most they can give for a 3 bedhouse is 3k.
standard seems to be in and around 2k thofor a 3bed for a family of 4.
This will get you beds prob second hand and a washing machine/fridge freezer/oven/hob.
ITs onlyfor the very very basics you need to survive.

They will still need to get flooring (id advise lino its cheap and will do all rooms and halls for a few years) and any other furniture they need. a trip to ikea is well worth, when we got our home 18 months ago now we were lucky to have a small bit of a redundancy payment left over (was only 1500 but it went a long way)
we went to ikea and got 4 sets of drawers for bedrooms, tv unit, coffee table, 2 trofast units for toys and 2 kallax units for shelving and storage, we also got tall drawers for the bathroom storage, and a few other bits and bobs, shoe storage mats for indoor and out , kithcen ware etc. You can grab all you need in store and delivery country-wide if you walk the itmes to the delivery desk is 64 euro tops (we had 500kg of furniture paid for 5.30 on a saturday adn was at our door in cork at 10 am the sunday morning!) In total i think we spent 1200 euro and had essentially the house furnished but for beds/couch/table and chairs.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Nearly 30 years ago, my partner and I and our two children moved into a Council House from private rented accommodation. At the time, I was working but on low wages. We were given a grant by the Community Welfare Officer (via the local Health Board) to cover the basics, such as three beds and a washing machine.

The beds were provided by the Health Board, and a voucher was given to us for the washing machine. Before we received anything, the CWO visited our house to check whether we actually needed these items or not (quite rightly). We were lucky enough to have other basics given to us by family or bought in second hand shops. At the time this was a godsend.

Since then, I have never applied for anything and eventually got a mortgage on a new house (by then thankfully, I had a good job with a much higher salary). I don't begrudge one penny I pay in taxes if it helps to set a family up in a long term house.

People who suggest that the OP's friend should save up to buy all necessary items are obviously unaware that these items cost money, a lot of money, which cannot be found under a magic money tree. Do they want the family to sit in a house bereft of furniture, cooking and washing facilities and beds for 12 months in order to save up?

One final point to make in answer to those who stated that a council house costs considerably less to pay for than a mortgage: At the moment, my mortgage is probably less than I'd be paying in Council rent, and at the end of the payments, I get to keep the house and leave it to my children. I'd almost certainly pay more in rent over my lifetime than the cost of my mortgage, and have absolutely nothing to leave when I die.

rob316

Just over €600 a month I pay for my 2 bedroom city centre council house. While its cheap and well below market value its not free. If I didn't work and was living on my own then ya maybe it would be €100 a month but its not. I am massively grateful for the house and always will be, its more social housing we need for working families.

Been working my bollox off to get a mortgage, I had a house sorted but it went into a bidding war and ending up going for 12k more than it was worth. I've decided to sit out the madness for now and see what happens, I'm trying to get out but I can't.

Gatling

It's likely you or they would get around €1,200 for white goods and not a whole not else,
For everything see Facebook ,adverse ,done deal charity shops and family ,
Going by previous examples posted here over the last 8 + years

Fann Linn

A relation of mine and her kids were knocked off the council housing list at the end of last year. She earns too much, in excess of €45k. Was paying in excess of €1200 per month for her private accomoadation.

Just found out today that she has now gone back down as a council tenant as she has moved in with her mother in her council house.

Mad world altogether.

fussyonion

Yet another thread bashing people in social housing.
Change the record already. Bitterness, resentment and jealousy is pouring from some you and it's horrible to posess those qualities.

hawkelady

fussyonion wrote: »

Yet another thread bashing people in social housing.
Change the record already. Bitterness, resentment and jealousy is pouring from some you and it's horrible to posess those qualities.

Not really bashing people in social housing ... think of it as trying to motivate some people to earn something ffs and not look for absolutely everything ... what’s next ? A cleaner twice a week. For god sake why not get stuff off adverts or the like rather than bloody scrounge ! He has a bloody job ffs. Sponging is a horrible trait to possess

Rubberchikken

op
im sure there is some help for new tenants to get appliances. might be dependent on income.

no one should begrudge someone a council house. would the begrudgers prefer if people were on the streets?

some people are in a position to rent or get a mortgage. others apply to council. that's the way life is. taxes are paid for a reason.

fussyonion

hawkelady wrote: »

Not really bashing people in social housing ... think of it as trying to motivate some people to earn something ffs and not look for absolutely everything ... what’s next ? A cleaner twice a week. For god sake why not get stuff off adverts or the like rather than bloody scrounge ! He has a bloody job ffs. Sponging is a horrible trait to possess

Jealous.

hawkelady

fussyonion wrote: »

Jealous.

Not at all. But tbh I would prefer to feel jealous than have the feeling of entitlement!
Anyway. Let’s leave it there cause I’m fairly sure we’ll never agree !! Keep reaching to be the best you can be