RECENT social welfare increases have left some low-income families ‘traumatised’ after they were removed from the local authority housing list – because the increases inadvertently pushed them over the income threshold.

The matter was raised by Fine Gael Cllr Laurie Harney at this month’s meeting of Galway County Council. He claimed that families waiting up to eight years were ‘thrown off’ the housing list as a direct result of the changes.

Council officials confirmed that changes to family-related social welfare supports, where income limits for certain payments – such as the Working Family Payment – were increased by up to €60 per week, have had a knock-on effect.

While the change was intended to support low-income working families, all additional income is fully assessed when deciding eligibility for social housing.

And that has resulted in some households exceeding the income threshold used to assess social housing eligibility.

Cllr Harney described how he had met with affected families before Christmas who no longer qualified -despite having spent years on the housing list – as they are pushed above the income threshold for social housing.

“When the figures came out, they no longer qualified for local authority housing,” he said.

“They are traumatised, as many have been waiting up to eight years on the housing list, and now they were thrown off it.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.

Caption: Cllr Laurie Harney.

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