Starting from next month, South Dublin County Council management is planning to increase council rents for over 20,000 households. Rents will increase from 10% of household income plus €3 currently to 12.5% of incomes, resulting in a 25% increase in rent for many households and some seeing an increase of over 50%.
In so doing, the Chief Executive ignored a motion passed by Councillors in February that required any differential rent review to be based on fairness and not revenue-raising, and to involve consultation with tenants and organisations with expertise in tackling poverty and inequality.
In response, a group of eleven Councillors plan to bring forward a special resolution to prevent the planned rent increases.
People Before Profit South Dublin County Councillor Jess Spear said:
“It is completely unacceptable that, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, the Council plans to take thousands of euros extra a year in rent from many families. People simply cannot afford to pay this.
“What the Chief Executive is doing also shows contempt for local democracy. In February, South Dublin County Councillors unanimously passed a motion stating;
That this council requests that any review of the differential rents scheme is based on fairness, not revenue-raising and must include consultation with tenants, tenants' unions such as CATU and organisations with expertise in tackling poverty and inequality.
“No such consultation has taken place, and yet the Executive has stated their intention to greatly increase revenue from rent increases for some of the poorest people in South Dublin. This is not acceptable, and Councillors have been left with no option but to take the only course of action available to us by proposing a special resolution under Section 140 of the Local Government Act 2001 to stop the rent increases.
“A regular Council motion cannot stop the Chief Executive’s rent increase plans, so myself and other Councillors will bring forward a special resolution at a Council meeting on 25th June directing the Chief Executive to suspend the planned differential rent increases until he concludes a consultation on the differential rent scheme, and not before the approval of the annual budget for 2027.
“Our resolution will also state that the consultation should require the Executive to schedule briefings and explainers for council tenants and request written opinion from tenants' unions and representative bodies such as CATU and ICSH, and organisations with expertise in tenants’ rights such as Threshold, and those tackling poverty and inequality.”