Standardised rent assessments may provide support for carers say Tipperary councillors
Tipperary County Council is to write to the Government to ask them to progress the review into standardised rent assessments for council tenants.
They believe this will provide greater support and protection for carers and other vulnerable groups.
The motion passed as an alternative to a one put forward in July to the Tipperary County Council meeting, to exclude Carers Allowance and Working Family payments from the calculation of council rents.
Cllr Marie Murphy brought forward this week’s motion saying of the long-awaited review:
“There is a saying about doing it or getting off the pot,” said Cllr Murphy.
ASSESSMENT
The motion in July was put forward by Cllr Richie Molloy, Jim Ryan, Máirín McGrath, Seamus Morris and Annemarie Ryan.
It was agreed that the housing section would assess the situation and return with a report in October.
Since then, the Director of Services for Housing, Sinead Carr, carried out an assessment of the counties that include and exclude Carers Allowance and the Working Family Payment.
She said on excluding the Working Family payment would constitute a “double discount” which she views as “inequitable”.
Her team also looked at the impact of the motion should it pass and some options should it fail.
What she found was that of the local authorities who exclude the two payments, they make up the difference with higher maximum and minimum rents.
The LAs who include the payment have much lower minimum and maximum rents.
She said that Tipperary had one of the lowest minimum rents in the country at €20.
The exclusion of those payments would result in a 861,000 deficit to the council.
This could be made up by increasing all minimum rents and removing the maximum cap.
But that would mean the cost was on others including other vulnerable tenants. She said that only 12 carers had availed of the council’s hardship support in the last two and half years.
This means that the cost of the motion outweighs the benefits.
“Nothing comes free. If you get rid of one thing, you have to do something else.
“By addressing the issue of carers, you are placing the burden unfairly on other households who may be in a more vulnerable position,” said Ms Carr.
She said it is her opinion that targeted support at national level would better help carers without disadvantage to others.
EXTRA COSTS
Cllr Richie Molloy responded by saying that although there were a lot of figures presented, he accepted the council's position.
However, he said, carers bear far more costs than the average family.
He said that a submission by Family Carers Ireland pointed out that some LAs discount half rate carers allowance.
He asked that the council consider that instead.
“Nobody sets out to be a carer.
“It just happens, and the costs are higher than for anyone else in the community,” said Cllr Molloy.
He also said he accepts that only a small number of people have availed of the hardship support provided by the council.
But he questioned if the figures told the full picture.
“I accept that it is a very low figure who have applied for hardship, but I wonder if it is widely known.
“That’s another part of it. We will have to study those figures,” said Cllr Molloy.
SECOND MOTION
Cllr Marie Murphy said that she was prepared to support the motion on the basis of the submission by Family Carers Ireland.
However, having seen the impact the motion would have, she would propose an alternative.
Cllr Murphy proposed that the council write to the government asking the status of the review into a standardised rent assessment model and if they are open to submissions.
Cllr Molloy seconded Cllr Murphy’s proposal and said he knows everyone in the chamber supports carers.
He also asked that information on hardship supports be more publicised.
Co-signatory on the original motion, Cllr Máirín McGrath, also supported the second motion saying:
“First and foremost, this is a national issue for which we need more support.”