Social Housing bands to change in 2026; Councillors bemoan lack of input
While social housing bands will remain near-static, a new band will be introduced to relatively high earners
Bands for the differential rents scheme-the mechanism Waterford City and Council use to calculate social housing rent- will change on January 5 to feature a new band for higher earners.
Under the scheme, council house tenants pay a percentage of their income towards rent. The minimum band of 13% is applied to the principal earners with assessable income of up to €254. A new band of 21% will apply to principal income earners with assessable income of more than €900.
‘Subsidary earners’ pay 10% of their assessable income towards rent.
Waterford City & County Council’s head of housing Seamus De Faoite said that the new band accounts for sustained inflation and increases in social welfare.
Mr De Faoite said that the changes will ensure that those receiving minimum social benefit (€254) will still fall under the lowest band of rent.
The new plans were initially unveiled by Waterford City & County Council’s executive branch to the Housing, Community, Sport & Recreation Strategic Policy Committee (SPC).
SPCs are local authority committees comprised of democratically elected councillors and local stakeholders.
Waterford’s Housing SPC is comprised of nine councillors, as well as local developer Richie McDonald, SIPTU rep Rachel Hartery, environment rep Craig Dower, lawyer Sentil Kumar Ramasamy and Community & Voluntary Rep Sarah O’Brien.
Councillors on the SPC bemoaned that the committee lacks concrete power and fails to function as a democratic forum where committee members can push back on legislation.
Councillors on the SPC raised issue that the working family payment, a support for low-paid employees with dependent children, is deemed as assessable income for the differential rent scheme.
“As a councillor sitting on an SPC your function is obviously to make rules and recommendations, but this only came from the executive for noting,” Sinn Féin councillor Jim Griffin said to the News & Star. Cllr. Griffin sits on the housing SPC.
“It's within [the executive’s] gift to implement it. And they kind of went over the heads of the working group."
Mr De Faoite said determining social housing bands was in the prerogative of the council’s executive branch.
Fianna Fáil councillor Eamon Quinlan criticised the overall workings of the SPCs. He said that if an unpopular executive decision comes through an SPC, councillors are seen as “complicit” in its passing, even if they lacked the ability to alter the legislation.
“I think these things come to an SPC and they're solely executive powers and authority, to me it kind of muddies the waters. It gets councillors involved,” said Cllr. Quinlan.
“I think what would be far better… that the executive just makes this decision and then it's referred to the SPC afterwards, so councillors can review it, can see it's working, and then can recommend changes to that policy so it can make clear where we are on these issues.”
