Councillors call for lifting of income band for social housing

Councillors in West Mayo have called for the income band in order to qualify for social housing to be lifted or risk losing a generation of young people.

A meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District heard that the region was losing its young educated people because they earn too much to be eligible for social housing and not enough to get a mortgage. As a result they are emigrating and councillors warned that many will not return if they cannot get housing.

Independent Westport-based councillor Christy Hyland called for the income band to qualify for social housing to be scrapped. He claimed to know people who are reducing their working week in order to meet the income band to get on the housing list.

“This income band system is totally broken when we have people reducing their hours at work and people giving up work so they may qualify to apply for social housing. I propose we get rid of the income band and go back to the old system where each case is taken on its own merits,” he said, adding that people who qualify for a council mortgage of €275,000 will not find a house for that price around Westport.

“They are leaving in droves and going to Australia and Canada and the US because they say they will never have a home. We have never had a situation where people are going out to work and cannot get a mortgage or some help to get a home,” Cllr Hyland added.

Erris-based councillor Gerry Coyle said that too many people find themselves 'between a rock and hard place' in that they cannot qualify for social housing and they cannot get a mortgage. He said that the council should make a certain amount of housing available for these people.

“The council should have a say on the allocation of some of the houses and that is why I proposed it. If you qualify for a social house you can become a millionaire afterwards and still hold onto your house. It is all about getting your foot in the door,” he said.

Independent councillor John O'Malley also called for the income band to be lifted and warned the region will lose its young people because they cannot afford to live locally.

“We are losing our educated and professional people because of that crisis. They can go out to Australia or Canada and in five years time they will have enough money to build a house with no mortgage. I know a couple who did it and built their house and I know several more who are doing it.

“Our young educated people are leaving. This is the danger that we are losing our good people for the simple reason of housing. That is the problem. We need to change our mindset or we will lose our educated people. We have migrants and immigrants and refugees coming in and that is what we are going to end up with and our own people gone,” he said.

Head of the Municipal District, Padraig Walsh told the councillors that he will write to the director of housing and ask if it is ‘possible to step outside the eligibility criteria in certain cases when allocating social housing’.