COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, February 12, 2024

QUESTION NO. 1

QUESTION: Councillor T. Costello

If a family are applying for Cost Rental Scheme or Social Housing Support and have children with additional needs, they may exceed the qualifying threshold due to relief related to the children. Can the Chief Executive confirm if there are plans to amend this so that the tax relief received does not prevent them from accessing housing support.

REPLY:

The Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ (CRTiS) Scheme is a scheme that is available where a tenant household faces the termination of their tenancy due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. The scheme is available if the tenant household:

An applicant tenant household must have net annual income of below €66,000 per annum for Dublin and €59,000 for everywhere else in the country. Net income means that income tax, Universal Social Charge, PRSI and superannuation contributions are deducted from the relevant assessable gross income.

If a tenant has a query about Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ they can contact the Housing Agency by phone at 1800 000 024 or via email at tenantinsitu@housingagency.ie.

All applicants for social housing supports are assessed in accordance with the Social Housing Support Household Means Policy 2021 which is issued under Regulation 17 of the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011. 

Section 4 outlines the income that is not assessable in assessing household income for the purpose of the household means policy. In assessing household income for the purposes of the household means policy, a local authority may decide to disregard income that is once-off, temporary or short-term in nature and which is outside the regular pattern of a person’s annual income.

Income from the following sources shall, in all cases, be disregarded for the purposes of assessing income:

Payments by the Department of Social Protection under the Social Welfare Acts in respect of— Child Benefit, Guardian’s Payments (Contributory),Guardian’s Payments (Non Contributory),Carer's Allowance, full or half rate, Carer's Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance, Prescribed Relatives Allowance, Electricity or Gas Allowance, Fuel Allowance, Telephone Allowance, Increase for Living on a Specified Island, Living Alone Allowance, Dietary Supplement, Payments under Medical Care Scheme, Back to Work Family Dividend, Disablement Benefit/Pension.

Once off payments or irregular payments, including e.g.  Carer's Support Grant (formerly called Respite Care Grant), Training Support Grant, Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, Exceptional Needs Payment, Urgent Needs Payment, Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, Funeral  grant.

Community employment schemes such as Community Employment Programme, Community Services Programme, Gateway, the Youth Employment Support Scheme, the Rural Social Scheme (RSS), Tús; the amount of income in excess of the Supplementary Welfare rate.

Payments from the Department of Social Protection or the Department of Education / Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science  or any Government Department or state agency in respect of an education or training course: the amount of income in excess of the Supplementary Welfare rate.

Payments by the Health Service Executive in respect of— Fostering Allowance, Blind Welfare Allowance , Mobility allowance.

Payments by the Department of Education, or under schemes funded by that Department, in respect of— Student grants schemes, Home Tuition Scheme, Youthreach training allowance. Payments received as a training allowance while undergoing a course of rehabilitation training by an organisation approved by the Minister for Health.

The following miscellaneous payments:

Payments by charitable organisations, being bodies the activities of which are carried on otherwise than for profit (but excluding any local authority or other public authority) and one of the functions of which is to assist persons in need by making grants of money to them;

Payments made by another EU Member State and / or the United Kingdom (Common Travel Area) that correspond to Child Benefit;

Scholarships in respect of attending approved courses provided by approved institutions, within the meaning of sections 7 and 8 of the Student Support Act 2011 (No. 4 of 2011), respectively; Income earned by children.