The elected members of Mayo County Council have agreed to hold a special meeting to discuss housing issues in the county in the near future. A number of councillors raised questions over the recent assessment of housing needs that was carried out by the council that saw a number of people removed from the housing list in the county.
Sinn Féin councillor Therese Ruane raised the issue of people struggling to find housing in the county at the October meeting of the local authority, saying: "We recently saw the rent allowance even with the small increases is not enough, for example the cap on the rent allowance of a family with two children is €500, with three children is €520 and it's just not enough, you can't get a rented house in Castlebar and other towns for that, vulnerable people are facing homelessness. In terms of the housing assistance payment, one of the concerns that I have is that the people who are on the long term housing list are falling through the cracks. What we are doing is putting people off the council housing list and forcing them on to the private rented sector, and that will affect more and more groups and what we need is to build social housing."
Cllr Michael Kilcoyne told the meeting: "I think it's important to have a report in relation to the reduction that has come about on our housing list. I want to know how the figures have been reduced. I want a report, I don't want to come in here with one hand as long as the other, I want a report showing how these figures have been reduced, how many people didn't reply, how many were taken off because they are over the income limit, that kind of stuff, because for the first time ever an income limit has been introduced if you're over the limit you are not considered. "
Fianna Fáil councillor Brendan Mulroy said: "I totally agree with Cllr Kilcoyne in relation to the assessment that was carried out. I'm not here to defend anyone who is well over the limit, I know the amount of people who have come to me and told me they were told the they were €40 or €50 over the limit, and I said this can't be happening. But when I checked it out, not only do you come off the council list you come off the Housing Assistance Payment, you're gone, you're off. I agree with Cllr Ruane, you can't rent a house. The poor fellow or his wife who are really working hard and you're €40 over and we take them off the list and our figures look really good for that, but come on, at what stage do we stop being public representatives? This is the biggest disgrace that is coming down the line, there are kids whose parents are out working hard, they are told by the local authority staff, who I appreciate there is nothing they can do, but to be told that you have to get out of the house you're in and find a house in the private rented market. We are effectively as a local authority making people homeless and if you go through the history of this State, nobody was looked on too kindly who threw anyone out of a house. The county council at this moment of time through this legislation are effectively doing that."
Independent councillor Christy Hyland said" "The housing list is reduced because the person who was on €25,000 is now on €25,005 so he got a letter to say he's off the list, it's happening to hundreds of people, I don't know where they are going to go, they can't go into their bank for a mortage because they aren't going to qualify for one. If they are only over by €5 they are being thrown to the wolves, where are they going to live?"
