Calls for a ‘fair chance to save’ rent scheme to help adult children in council housing save up to buy
A Fingal councillor is calling on the council to introduce a new scheme for adult children living in council homes who are saving up for a mortgage
In April, Fingal County Council (FCC) increased a cap on “subsidiary earners” or additional people earning in a household – which will mean that adult children living in a council home will have to contribute a minimum of €60 (increased from €40) towards rent.Labour councillor James Humphreys has called for a time-limited scheme to support working adult children who are saving up to buy their first home.Through a motion tabled for a council meeting this month, the councillor will ask FCC to “bring forward proposals for a scheme to support council tenant households where a working adult child is saving towards a first-time buyer mortgage.”He suggested that the council offer such tenants the option to cap, reduce or rebate the additional rent from the income of adult household members.“I personally suggest a rebate where, when a person gets approval for a mortgage, the council can return that money to them,” he told the Irish Independent.Across Dublin’s local authorities, changes in rent for subsidiary earners will see adult children living in council homes contribute more towards rent.Dublin City Council will see its cap of €21 on subsidiary earners go up to €40, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council decided to scrap a cap of €20 and South Dublin County Council is preparing to introduce similar changes.Cllr James Humphreys“The basis of this motion is to have some equity in the system," Cllr Humphreys told the Irish Independent.“If an adult moves home to save for a mortgage with the help of your parents in the private sector, there are no costs. If the parents happen to live in social housing, there is an increase in rent – in Fingal it has increased by at least a minimum of €60.”Changes in the differential rent scheme, which takes into account the income of each member of a household, were introduced in FCC’s budget last year."In November, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Aontú pushed through a budget which included changes in rent. It was so rushed that we failed to look at a lot of important details,” said Cllr Humphreys.“One of the things we failed to look at closely was adult children – in this day and age when the census shows that a growing number of adult children are living at home, it is a significant portion of people's income."I was hoping this motion would be addressed before the rent increases kicked in. It is something that should be addressed because it’s not easy to save for a mortgage. It’s not equitable, especially for people who are in social houses who are economically disadvantaged."Last month, councillors in Fingal voted to pause rent increases in April as a response to the “crippling cost” of fuel, food and transport costs for social housing tenants.However, the decision to pause rent is an executive function of council management, who are prepared to collect an additional income of €3.3m from the increases.Cllr Humphreys said he hopes the Fair Chance to Save scheme will be discussed at a council meeting on May 11.Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
