A TD has written to the chief executives, and heads of housing, at both the Galway city and county councils, asking them to freeze rents for social housing tenants for this year.
Sinn Féin Galway West TD, Mairéad Farrell, who wrote the letter, pointed out that, while the Government has refused a rent freeze across the State, local authorities have the power to take this action for tenants living in social housing - a move which has already been put in place in Northern Ireland.
“Amid a cost of living crisis, it makes sense to find every way possible to alleviate financial pressure in our community,” she said. “A local rent freeze would go some way to putting much needed money back into the pockets of social housing tenants in Galway.”
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Dep Farrell [pictured above] pointed out that many council tenants are on low wages, or are reliant on a social welfare payment for their income.
“If they managed to get a rise in income this year either from their wages or from a €5 increase in their payment, this should not be eaten away by a rent increase at a time of severe financial difficulty,” she said. “I hear every week in my clinics stories from people who are having to make impossible decisions due to financial hardship.”
She said a rent freeze for council tenants would “put a bit of extra money” into tenants’ pockets during a time of “soaring prices for basics such as fuel, electricity, and food”.
