Call for rents to be regulated in Sligo
IF rents in Sligo were regulated as they are in many European countries, people in private rented accommodation would have much higher disposable income to spend in the local economy.
That’s according to Councillor Declan Bree who tabled a motion calling on the Council to urge the Government and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to invest more in Council housing, protect tenants from unfair rent increases and regulate rent hikes by linking rents to the Consumer Price Index.
“If rents are not regulated the current housing crisis will most likely get worse, resulting in further homelessness and even larger Housing waiting lists,” he told the meeting.
The latest data released by the Simon Community indicates that just 7 per cent of private rented accommodation in Sligo comes within the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme.
Cllr Bree said this meant tenants were being compelled to “pay rent on the double, to both the Council and to the property owner.”
He was supported by Councillor Chris MacManus who said he raised the issue twice before of HAP and the difficulty of it not reflecting market prices.
He said that rents had risen in Sligo last year by 29 per cent. “Most of us are working with families on the housing list. The hard part isn’t getting HAP. You won’t find anything in this town for less than ¤800-¤850 and yet you get a HAP limit of ¤550. People are having to dip into their pockets for a further ¤300 a month,” said Cllr MacManus.
“We need a fast track social housing programme to take the heat out of the private rental market,” he said.
Cllr Seamus Kilgannon also supported the motion: “This Government is two years in power now and nothing really concrete has been done to sort out the housing problem. We owe it to the people we represent to get the powers that be to do something to address the problem.”
Cllr Hubert Keaney said he too was “disappointed that more progress hasn’t been made on this” issue.
“There’s frustration at all levels about this,” he said.
Council Chief Executive Ciarán Hayes said the “solution is to increase the supply and unfortunately there are time lags in doing that.”