Subvention and the Private Rented Sector: Access to rent allowance accommodation in inner city Dublin.

Preface

The original idea for this project stemmed from the practical needs and requirements of the clients of our information service here in the Larkin Centre, as recorded over the last five years. Every day, in common with many of the unemployed/information centres around the city, we have a large number of clients who use our service to obtain information on what a rent allowance is, how they can qualify for one and where they can get one.

While some provision has been made for the answers to these questions by the Health Board, the next and most logical question seems to have been overlooked or completely ignored. That question is: Where do I find accommodation that will accept me as a rent allowance tenant?

Normally, when people attempt to locate accommodation, the only limitations they experience are the accommodation available and the market price of that accommodation. However, rent allowance recipients, particularly one parent families, often face a further obstacle, that of discrimination.

A large number of landlords will not accept rent allowance tenants for a variety of reasons. Some believe rent allowance tenants to be unreliable, undesirable or disruptive. Others do not want the Health Board to hold an official record of their income as landlords. This attitude is reflected in the worrying increase in the number and frequency of newspaper and accommodation agency advertisements categorically stating No EHB/rent allowance tenants.

I conducted an informal telephone survey during August and September, 1997, using a sample of 150 newspaper advertisements offering flats to let. did not include any that specified an unwillingness to take rent allowance tenants. Of the ads surveyed, a staggering 137, or 91.3%, refused to take rent allowance tenants, leaving only 15 possibilities of accommodation for those with allowances.1

However it is also equally clear that some landlords are willing to accept rent allowance tenants, as evidenced by the monies paid out by the Eastern Health Board in rent allowances for private rented accommodation.

While accepting that the Health Board is not a housing agency and has no responsibility for the provision of housing information, I felt that since they possessed relevant information, it would be possible for them to provide a practical and useful starting point for the accommodation seeker. A system of properly administered and organised information on accommodation would also be useful to other related community agencies and organisations.

I argued that because records are kept by the Eastern Health Board of rent allowances paid, it was logical to assume that this information contained the name of the landlord, the address of the accommodation, its size and format and the weekly rent.

My suggestion was that this information could be compiled in a format and manner that would readily identify any vacant accommodation which had in the past accepted a rent allowance tenant. I had hoped that the establishment of such a procedure could, over time, facilitate the needs of both landlords and tenants.

It was apparent from my experience that a lot of rent allowance accommodation was far from desirable with regard to hygiene, health, safety or environmental issues. However, without an address, a person in receipt of a Social Welfare payment lacks the ability to improve their life through education, training or employment opportunities. This far outweighs concerns about accommodation standards, which can be tackled at a later stage.

It is my opinion that part and parcel of the community's responsibility to the overall health and well-being of the individual lies in its ability to provide information on one of the most basic and vital needs of every citizen, that of a place to live.

Robbert J. Lynch, Information Officer The Larkin Unemployed Centre

NOTE 1: See Appendix IV, for a sample of newspaper advertisements that appear to discriminate against Health Board tenants and/or lone parents.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• Index of Tables and Diagrams
• Summary
  • Summary Recommendations
• Section 1 - Background to Organisations Involved in the Study
  • The Larkin Unemployed Centre
  • Dublin Inner City Partnership
  • Initial Scoping Work
    • Citizens Information Centres
    • Ringsend Community Group
    • South Inner City Community Development Association
    • Sandymount Community Services
• The Private Rented Sector: Policies and Trends
  • Standards of Accommodation
  • Housing (Miscellaneous Provision) Act, 1992
  • Registration of Landlords
  • Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme
• Section 3 - Approach to the Research and Methodology
  • Organising Quantitative Data
  • Qualitative Data The Case Studies
  • Professional Perspectives - Agency Interviews
  • Problems Encountered
• Section 4 - Accessing Private Rented Accommodation: Quantitative Data
  • Final Sample Size
  • Quantitative Findings
    • Demographic Variables
    • Quality of Rented Accommodation
    • Finding Rented Accommodation
    • Current Rental Costs and Rental Allowance
    • Applying for and Obtaining Rent Allowance from CWOs
    • Refusing Housing Offers
• Section 5 - Living in the Private Rented Sector: 5 Case Studies
  • Case Study 1 - Ciara
  • Case Study 2 - Natalie
  • Case Study 3 - Viv
  • Case Study 4 - Roisin
  • Case Study 5 - Celine
  • Summary of Main Findings from Case Studies
• Section 6 - Dealing with Tenants' Needs:Perspectives from the Agencies
  • Irish Property Owners Association
  • National Association of Professional Landlords
  • Eastern Health Board
    • Specialised Housing Unit
  • Threshold
  • Focus Ireland
  • Summary of Main Findings from Agency Interviews
    • Landlords Perspective
    • Eastern Health Boards Perspective
    • Tenant Advocacy Groups Perspective
• Section 7 - Analysis, Recommendations and Conclusions
  • Summary recommendations
  • Lease Agreement and Deposit Retention
  • Calculation of Health Board Ceiling
  • Registration of Landlords
  • Accommodation Register
  • Social Housing Schemes
  • Conclusion
  • Suggestions for Further Research
• Bibliography
• Appendix I
  • Statistics on tenure in Dublin from the 1991 Census
• Appendix II
  • EHB Maximum Levels of Rent
• Appendix III
  • Copy of Questionnaire
• Appendix IV
  • Sample of Newspaper Advertisements

Summary

This report has been prepared for the Larkin Unemployed Centre and has been funded by the Dublin Inner City Partnership. It examines key issues facing low income tenants in the private rented sector, such as access to accommodation, difficulties with the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme and possible discrimination against tenants by landlords. The report also investigates the need for an accommodation register for the Dublin area, and other possible measures that could be taken to alleviate symptoms of the housing crisis in the greater Dublin area.

The research, based on survey data, case studies and agency interviews, lays out a typology of tenants and their problems in relation to both the adequacy of social welfare allowances for housing and the adequacy of the housing itself.

The study identifies the types of problems that rent allowance tenants experience when trying to access accommodation. It examines the type of accommodation available to rent allowance tenants in the four quadrants of the Partnership and the amounts of rent paid. It also investigates the amounts of subvention paid by the Health Board to landlords. It addresses issues such as length of time spent locating accommodation, prejudice on the part of landlords against different profile groups, and the kind of relationships that exist between Eastern Health Board clients and their Community Welfare Officers.

The findings are presented in the following sections, beginning with Section 1, a background to the organisations involved in the study and Section 2, the literature review. Section 3 discusses the study methodology. Sections 4 and 5 present the questionnaire results and the qualitative data which highlights and extends the focus of the quantitative findings. Section 6 discusses the results of the interviews with key agencies in the housing and social welfare fields.

Finally, Section 7 discusses the data findings overall and presents conclusions and recommendations.

Summary Recommendations

1. Introduce standardised tenant lease agreements;
2. Urgently revise Eastern Health Board rent ceilings, using a survey of estate agents;
3. Pay Health Board rent allowance cheques in advance, rather than arrears;
4. Develop the existing register of landlords and enforce the penalty system;
5. Invite landlord organisations to survey their members to establish the feasibility of an accommodation register;
6. Establish Private Rented Housing Unit within Dublin Corporation to oversee standards in the private rented sector;
7. Scale down rent allowance payments gradually for people returning to employment;
8. Greatly increase the number of local authority housing units, both through building new units and purchasing private dwellings;
9. Promote and support community-based Social Housing initiatives.

Section 1 - Background to Organisations Involved in the Study

This section gives a background to the two main organisations involved in this study, the Larkin Unemployed Centre and the Dublin Inner City Partnership. Recognising that rent allowance tenants and their problems are a city-wide topic of concern, both of these groups were anxious to have a representative cross-section of the four inner city quadrants included in the research. During the initial scoping exercise, the researchers sought to establish background information on private rented housing in the Partnership Area by interviewing representatives from five key, local agencies. We present below a brief profile of each of the participating groups who gave their time and expertise to enable this study to be carried out.

The Larkin Unemployed Centre

The Larkin Unemployed Centre is an Irish Congress of Trade Unions Centre, based in Dublin's north inner city. The Centre was established in 1986, with the principal objective of combating unemployment through the provision of information on welfare rights, educational courses, enterprise development, guidance counselling and childcare.

Having provided an independent Welfare Rights Information service for the past eleven years, The Larkin Unemployed Centre had been aware of problems faced by many of its clients in the area of rent allowance accommodation. These included difficulties accessing accommodation, ambiguity about rights and entitlements under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme and discrimination by landlords against low income tenants. The Centre was particularly concerned about the lack of information available to assist clients who were dependent on social welfare. Following discussions between the Centre Coordinator, Information Officer (Robbert Lynch) and Research Officer, a draft research proposal was drawn up and submitted to the Dublin Inner City Partnership in 1996. The tender was awarded to Isis Research, who appointed Robbert Lynch as an expert advisor on the Social Welfare system.

The Partnership agreed to fund the project, with the proviso that a consultant be appointed to oversee the methodology. Dr. Jo Murphy-Lawless (Centre for Women's Studies, Trinity College) accepted this role. When funding for the project became available in June 1997, the research commenced, and was allocated a five month timescale.

Dublin Inner City Partnership

The Dublin Inner City Partnership belongs to a national network of partnerships, set up by the Government with the objective of tackling unemployment in innovative ways. It also concerns itself with other development issues, such as enterprise, improving the living environment, childcare, arts and culture, and education. It was established in 1990 and aims to unite the skills and services of local community groups to provide a comprehensive approach to a range of inner city problems.

Initial Scoping Work

Following discussions with the DICP's Social Development Working Group, which acted as an advisory committee to the project, an initial scoping exercise was conducted with a view to establishing background information on private rented housing in the Partnership Area. This included meetings with the four organisations which had been nominated by the Working Group: Citizens Information Centre in Beresford Street (North-West Quadrant), Larkin Unemployed Centre (North-East Quadrant), Ringsend Community Group (South-East Quadrant) and South Inner City Community Development Association in Meath Street (South-West Quadrant). It was felt that these groups would give a fair representation of the entire inner city area with which the Partnership is concerned.

The research team met with representatives of three of the four agencies in order to determine their willingness and ability to participate. The representative of the Ringsend group was briefed over the phone, due to her time pressures. Each representative agreed to have a questionnaire administered in their organisations, as well as offering help with setting up case studies. As part of the scoping exercise, the team also attended an advisory meeting with Threshold to discuss the research and Thresholds involvement in it.

Citizens Information Centres

The CIC offices in Beresford Street and O'connell Street belong to a national network of eighty-five centres, which provide a free information service for local communities. They also act as referral agencies for other information providers. The network is supported by the National Social Services Board and employs trained staff. All centres provide up-to-date information on a range of issues: health, social welfare, taxation, housing, etc. The objective of these centres is to ensure that all citizens have access to accurate, comprehensive and clear information on a full range of the social services, provided through a NSSB computerised database. Three of the Dublin-based centres, Beresford Street, Cabra and O'connell Street, are part of the Citizens Information Development Project (CIDP), which was formed in recognition of the scarcity of information in the North-West of Dublin city. The CIDP head office is at Smithfield.

Ringsend Community Group

The Ringsend group was established in 1989 and provides a range of services to the local population, including creche and playgroup, evening TD clinics, Eastern Health Board day clinics, welfare rights information, and classes such as Irish dancing and karate. They also run children's discos. The group is run on a Community Employment scheme and also receives some funding from groups who rent rooms in the premises. There are twelve people on the CE scheme and others are employed in the playgroup and creche. Some of their CE staff train as Classroom Assistants in St. Patrick's Boys National School and Catherine McAuley National School.

South Inner City Community Development Association

The SICCDA Resource Centre developed as part of the South Inner City Community Development Association. Based in Meath Street, it was established in 1984 as a citizens drop in, advice, information, referral and training centre. Since its foundation, it has provided help to over 25,000 clients. The Centre is staffed by trained volunteers and a core of professional staff. It is supported by the Department of Social Welfare and the National Social Services Board. Its objectives are to provide a full range of advocacy services, to promote community development, and to carry out research. They also provide back-up support by means of secretarial services, information and training.

Sandymount Community Services

The Sandymount Community Services became involved towards the end of the project, at the recommendation of the Larkin Centre. This group was established in 1985 and is now based in the CYMS Hall on Irishtown Road, Ringsend. The activities of their Community Employment Scheme include welfare rights information, local history research, community resource service and production of NewsFour community newsletter. Their catchment area is Sandymount, Irishtown, Pearse Street and Ringsend.

Section 2 - The Private Rented Sector: Policies and Trends

In recent years, demographic changes in Ireland have led to an increased demand for housing. These changes include:

• A larger overall population; an increase of some hundred thousand in the country as a whole since the 1991 census
• More elderly people living alone
• Increased marital break-down; up 135% in the last 10 years
• An increase in one parent families
• A reduction in the under-15 age group
• An increase in (young) people leaving home and becoming homeless
• An increase in the number of single people wishing to acquire their own homes (Connolly, 1993:263-264; CSO, 1997)

On a local level, the Gamma Baseline Study, carried out for Dublin Inner City Partnership, revealed that the North inner city area is highly disadvantaged, characterised by extremely high rates of unemployment, poor housing and a precarious labour market. No Ward in the north inner city area ranks lower than 6 on a scale of relative deprivation (ADM/Gamma, 1995). The Gamma survey ranked the Ballybough District Electoral Division, where the Larkin Centre is located, as being in the top 5% of the most deprived District Electoral Divisions in Ireland (ibid.). Overall, the Dublin Inner City Partnership area has the third highest unemployment rate of all the partnerships, 31.8% (ibid.). In many inner city flats complexes, unemployment rates of 70% to 80% are common (DICP, 1996:11).

In the Dublin Inner City Partnership area, 31.7% of households are rented from the local authority, while 24.9% of homes are privately rented, which is four times the national rate, indicating the importance of the private sector in this area (ADM/Gamma, 1995).

NOTE 2: There has been a reduction in family size from an average of 4 children in the 1970s to 1.5 in the 1990s (Connolly, 1993:263).

Countrywide, the supply of private rented accommodation has diminished considerably over the last few decades, declining from 96,000 in 1971 to 89,400 in 1981 (Blackwell, 1990:104) while figures for owner-occupied housing have increased. In its Household Budget Survey, 1994-95, the Central Statistics Office records a state average of 8% tenure for private rented accommodation. In urban areas, this figure rises to 11.4%. Ireland has always had a very high rate of owner-occupation, compared with other EU countries and this sector has strengthened within the last several decades. The state average is now 79.2%, with an urban average of 72.4%.3 By contrast, local authority housing now accounts for 10.9% of housing in the entire country, and 14.7% of housing in all urban areas (Central Statistics Office, 1997:25). McKeon (1979) has offered this analysis:

Since the turn of this century, the private rented sector has declined continuously. In 1971 only 12 per cent of the housing stock consisted of private rented dwellings and this had fallen from 17 per cent a decade earlier. The continuous decline has resulted largely because the subvention programmes made house-ownership and public renting relatively more attractive and at the same time rent controls reduced the returns on investment in private rented housing apart from those in rent controlled dwellings, tenants in private rented housing receive no public subvention (McKeon, 1979:45)

According to John Blackwell (1988), between 1971 and 1981 the private rented sector shrank from 13.3% to 10.1% of total housing stock. Moreover, as a number of critics have pointed out, private rented accommodation no longer provides a stepping stone to owner-occupation as it once did (Action on Poverty, 1988; Blackwell, 1988; Dillon and O'Brien, 1982).

So while there are now more people looking for accommodation, there is less of it available in the private rented sector. Other factors have also impacted on a developing housing shortage. O'Sullivan notes that the growth in unemployment in Ireland over a six year period, especially long-term unemployment, had a negative effect on the housing sector and fewer people could now afford to buy their own homes (1996:78). As a result, there was increased dependency on the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme among people who resorted to the private rented sector. Between 1989 and 1995 the number of people in continuous unemployment had increased by 28.2%, and there was a 46.5% increase among people unemployed for over three years, in the six year period (O'sullivan, 1996:78).

NOTE 3: In 1946, only 30% of homes were owner-occupied (O'connell, 1994:159).

The lower end of the private rented sector comprises unemployed households and this is reflected in the increase of payments under the Supplementary Welfare Scheme, whereby a rent allowance is given to those who are unemployed to assist them with meeting their rent obligations. This massive increase in the number of rent supplements paid to those in the private rented sector highlights the numbers of unemployed people who are dependant on this form of housing tenure. (O'sullivan, 1996:76)

Over the last few years there has been a marked increase in numbers of people on local authority housing lists. In 1991, 23,242 people were registered as in need of housing (nationally), while in 1993 this figure had grown to 28,624. O'connell estimated that in 1994, there were approximately 30,000 waiting to be housed by local authorities (O'connell, 1994:168). An Assessment on Housing Need was carried out by Dublin Corporation in 1996. Results indicated that in its catchment area there were 4,862 families/individuals on the housing list. This figure included travellers, homeless families, single people, senior citizens and people in private rented accommodation. It was estimated that 896 families/individuals living in private rented accommodation in the area were waiting to be housed by the Corporation (Personal Communication, Dublin Corporation, January 1998).

In addition, Dublin Corporations decision to curtail their house building has had consequences for the private rented sector. It is evident that the scaling down of local authority housing has exposed a large number of households and individuals to the vagaries of the private market. (O'connell, 1994:162).

There were no 1996 Census questions on housing tenure (see footnote 4), but the 1991 Census records national figures of 185,834 occupants of private rented accommodation. Of these, 45,982 persons occupied 18,096 housing units in the unfurnished private rented sector and 139,852 persons occupied 63,711 units in the furnished private rented sector (O'sullivan, 1996:74). This represents a density of 2.54 people per unit in the unfurnished sector and 2.20 people per unit in the furnished sector.

According to O'sullivan, 37,692 housing units in the private rented sector were in the form of flats/bedsits with the remaining in the forms of conventional houses. Over one third of the private rented units are in Dublin. (O'sullivan, 1996:74)

Census figures indicate that the population profile of the Greater Dublin area has expanded substantially, and the core area of the city has increased its population to almost 90,000 people. Dublin County Borough (Dublin Corporation Area) has 4,602 unfurnished private rented units and 23,326 furnished or part furnished private rented units, giving a total of 27,928 units (Personal Communication, Dept. of the Environment, August 1997)

According to the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, TCD, who have carried out surveys of the new housing developments in the inner urban area of Dublin, it is difficult to estimate whether the total number of units available to rent in Dublin has increased or decreased since 1991. Their surveys were carried out in 1992, 1995 and 1996 (the inner urban area as defined for these studies is somewhat wider than the area of the Partnership). There has certainly been an increase in building luxury apartments in recent years, so more units may now be available to rent. In the 1996 survey, 57.4% of all units surveyed were owner-occupied and 42.6% were tenant-occupied. There were more tenants in new developments built in non-designated urban areas because these provided no advantage to owner-occupiers. This data uncovered an inverse relationship with regard to unit size and owner-occupation: the larger the unit, the less owner occupation. In three bedroomed units, owner occupation was 25% compared to a rate of tenant occupation of 75%. (Personal Communication, David Floyd, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies)

NOTE 4: The Census inquires into housing tenure every ten years. As the question was asked in 1991, the next figures will be available following the census in 2001. The 1991 figures on tenure are therefore the most up-to-date ones available (Personal Communication, Central Statistics Office, August 1997).

However, weighted figures on the construction of studio, 1-bedroomed and 2bedroomed units indicate that from 1992 to 1995, the preferred unit size for building favoured the studio and 1-bedroomed flat (Floyd, forthcoming). The question, however, is whether these smaller unit sizes are being made available to rent allowance tenants, or whether the scale of rents is such as to put this new building beyond the reach of low income people in the private rented sector. The Irish Property Owners Association believes that many landlords are leaving the rental business owing to new regulations, which may offset the increased value of new apartments to low income tenants.

Although it is difficult to pinpoint precise, up-to-date figures of the number of units available to low income tenants, another way of estimating the numbers of low income tenants in private rented accommodation is the outlay on rent allowance under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme. In their 1995 annual report, the Eastern Health Board stated that during that year they had spent a total of 67.6 million on Supplementary Welfare Allowance, which benefited 96,703 people. Rent and mortgage supplements amounted to 37.7 million (Eastern Health Board, nd:43).

The demand for and expenditure on rent and mortgage supplements, which has been increasing sharply since 1989, continued to grow significantly in 1995 - reaching a total of 44,883 cases with expenditure. (Eastern Health Board, nd:43)

Overall, it appears that we now face a situation where more and more people are seeking a diminishing supply of private rented accommodation, which, in compliance with the laws of supply and demand, features increasing rates of rent. Changes in demographic patterns, a decline in building new local authority homes, and growth in long-term unemployment have collectively placed a strain on the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme and the private housing sector.

Private sector tenants have been squeezed between their own economic weakness and a shrinking supply of adequate accommodation.(Blackwell, 1990:104)

Standards of Accommodation

Competition for accommodation is such that standards have been allowed to wane.

The private rented sector reveals more and more competition for a declining stock of affordable yet sub-standard accommodation. (O'connell, 1994:169)

O'connell explains how a system of rent control affected the physical standards of dwellings in the private rented sector:

Private landlords responded rationally to rent control by de-investing in the physical fabric of the sector. Thus as maintenance standards declined, buildings fell into disrepair, or were sold off cheaply to sitting tenants. (O'connell, 1994:160)

The situation today is described thus:

the twilight zone of private renting reveals a housing underworld characterised by transience, poor regulation, exploitative rents and low standards, and high levels of welfare dependency among tenants. (O'connell, 1994:161)

Housing (Miscellaneous Provision) Act, 1992

In order to combat some of the perceived problems in the private rented sector, the Housing (Miscellaneous Provision) Act was passed in 1992. This legislation entitles tenants to a minimum notice to quit (four weeks), compulsory rent books, minimum physical standards in private rented housing and compulsory registration of rented properties (O'sullivan, 1996:77). However, landlords can still evade registration, particularly because these laws are not enforced. (This Act will be discussed at further length, in relation to our own data findings.)

Registration of Landlords

Landlords are obliged to register with the local authority but many do not. O'sullivan felt that the recent policy of providing tax relief for tenants in the private sector would also bring landlords into the tax net. A recommendation of the review group was that rent supplement should be paid to tenants only where the landlords have registered their properties (Review Group, 1995:13). So, while this has now become policy, many Community Welfare Officers may overlook this requirement if they feel it is in the best interests of the client.

Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme

The Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, under which rent allowance is allocated, was introduced in 1977.5 It is administered by Community Welfare Officers in the Health Boards, and funded by the Department of Social Welfare. Rent Supplements are paid under Section 209 of the 1981 Act. The scheme developed as part of the Community Welfare Service, which had two principal objectives: it sought to inform people about and assist them to avail of the statutory income maintenance services, and to provide financial support through the SWA scheme, where necessary (Combat Poverty Agency, 1991:24).

Under the SWA scheme, a Community Welfare Officer may award weekly or monthly supplements, such as rent allowance, and occasional exceptional needs payments, for example, to help with rent arrears (Combat Poverty Agency, 1991:26). The Supplementary Welfare Allowance is payable to persons with no or insufficient means to meet their needs or those of any dependants (Cousins, 1995:55).

Whyte and Cousins explain how the Health Board calculates Rent Allowance. Usually, a person is liable for the first 5 of their rent. From there, the basic SWA rate is subtracted from the persons income, and the result is added to the 5. This gives the minimum amount of rent that the tenant must pay, and the remainder is the maximum amount that the Health Board will pay (1993:11).

NOTE 5: Although the Social Welfare (Supplementary Welfare Allowance) Act was passed by the Dáil in 1975, the scheme itself was not introduced until July 1977.

McCashin (1996:200-201) has suggested three urgent problems facing one parent families in private rented accommodation which also apply to many other people in the private rented sector:

1. Lack of awareness about entitlements;
2. Discrepancy between rent allowance ceilings and actual rent;
3. Poor quality of housing available.

First of all, he argues that not all families who are entitled to an allowance are availing of it because of lack of awareness. As we will see in Section 5 with our case studies, the problem of awareness can be as much to do with community welfare officers as the families themselves. The second problem relates to actual housing costs in comparison to Health Board ceilings on subsidies. McCashin argues that this leads to an inadequate and impoverished standard of living and urges again that a national system of housing benefits be set up. The third problem is the poor quality of low cost accommodation available, which has lead to people doubling up in their house of origin, and results in overcrowding and great family tensions. All three of these themes emerge in the case studies.

As discussed earlier, a number of factors contributed to the increased demand for housing and consequent demand on the SWA scheme. The amount of rent allowance paid out in any year has risen steadily since 1989.

Between 1989 and 1995, total expenditure on rent and mortgage supplements had increased from 7 million to 60 million. In 1995, the average number of households in receipt of payments in any month was of the order of 32,000 for rents and 7,000 for mortgages. (Review Group on the Role of Supplementary Welfare Allowance 1997:7) The total expenditure on Rent Allowance has increased every year since 1989 (O'sullivan, 1996:75).

A Review Group on the role of Supplementary Welfare Allowance in housing was set up in 1994 by the Minister for Social Welfare. The group submitted a report to the Minister in 1995, in which they recommended that housing policy and supports such as rent allowance should be administered by the Local Authorities (Eastern Health Board, nd:43).

Although the SWA scheme was originally designed to give short-term or emergency assistance to people, it has developed into a major form of housing support. There are problems with the administration of this scheme because it is the responsibility of three government departments: the Department of Social Welfare, the Department of Health and the Department of the Environment. Local authorities are responsible for overall housing policy and its implementation. (Review Group, 1995:10)

The Review Group cited a number of reasons for increases in rent and mortgage supplements since 1989, which included:

1. increased awareness of social welfare assistance;
2. increase in the number of one-person households;
3. increase in the number of one-parent families;
4. continuing high levels of unemployment;
5. rising levels of long-term unemployment;
6. the reduction in local authority house-building between 1987 and 1992;
7. immigration.

The group recommended that the government adopt an integrated approach to the assessment of housing need and the allocation of resources, and that this be done within a single legislative framework (Review Group, 1995:11).

Another problem associated with the SWA rent allowance scheme affects unemployed people who, on returning to the full-time workforce, experience a 100% rate of supplement withdrawal. Even when a person is returning to part-time work, supplement is reduced by 1 for every 1 of income earned. This clawback rule discourages people from returning to work, and encourages dependence on the rent allowance scheme (Review Group, 1995:13).

(Review Group, 1995:20)

Approximately one third (30,046) of all households in the private rented sector were in receipt of rent supplement (Review Group, 1995:21).

Other possible reasons for increased demand for rent allowance include:

• changing social expectations;
• the demand-led nature of the scheme itself;
• the slowing down of the local authority house building programme in the years 1987-1992;
• the increase in the number of approved applicants for local authority housing since 1989;
• the knock-on effects of policies and initiatives outside the SWA scheme itself e.g. the de-institutionalisation of the health services; schemes which provide for the retention of secondary benefits (ibid.).

The Combat Poverty Agency summarised the difficulties associated with subvention in their 1991 report.

• Housing supplements are not based on a proper assessment of the link between peoples means and their housing needs;
• Most recipients lose a portion of their supplement because of the clawback rule;
• A lack of uniformity exists in the level of assistance given across Health Board areas;
• There are difficulties associated with landlords who are reluctant to accept tenants on rent allowance, possibly because they are not paying tax on rental income;
• Deposits are rarely paid by Community Welfare Officers;
• The Health Board assumes that a man and woman living together are a couple and will only pay one rent allowance to them. This rarely applies to people of the same gender;
• The payments are made at the discretion of the Community Welfare Officer;
• The Health Boards do not oversee landlords, who indirectly or directly receive money from them;
• There is no updated list of landlords, and this may mean that properties are substandard.

NOTE 6: The 1995 figures were estimated when published.

The SWA scheme was first put under pressure when during the 1980s unemployment rose. The Department of Social Welfare was unable to deal with the huge number of claims, and the SWA scheme was employed as an emergency measure. When the housing crisis re-emerged in the 1990s, the SWA scheme was again over-utilised.

Local Authorities found themselves unable to meet the demands on housing and again the demand spilled over into SWA As can be imagined, such high volume of claims in any one area of need had a major impact on the quality of the SWA service which was never geared to deal with high volume claims. (de Rossa, 1996:8)

The SWA scheme is described by (former) Minister de Rossa as a barometer of social need in the community. He said it is the first service to pick up social change in Irish Society. (de Rossa, 1996:8)

De Rossa admitted that the secrecy element in relation to the discretionary powers of CWOs had been problematic for the scheme, but that the Department of Social Welfare had commenced a process whereby all Health Board guidelines would available to the public. (de Rossa, 1996:9)

Guerin argues that the Rent Allowance programme of the SWA scheme, originally designed as a short-term intervention for people who either wished to buy their own homes or rent from the public sector, has become a long term support. For many people, the rising levels of unemployment will mean that owning their own home is becoming a remote possibility.

A common misconception has been that the private rented sector has only been a temporary solution before one either purchased a home or obtained one from the local authority (Guerin, 1993:4-5)

In conclusion, it appears that many of the problems highlighted by Dillon and O'brien in their 1983 study continue to haunt the issue of private rented accommodation. Despite the number of legislative changes that have been made since the early 1980s, there has been little impact on core issues faced by private rented tenants. For example, there have been twenty-three amendments to legislation with regard to the Social Welfare Rent Allowance regulations between 1982 and 1997 (Stationery Office), yet as our research data will indicate, there remain substantive problems with the discretionary nature of rent allowance allocations and with rent allowance ceilings.

Section 3 - Approach to the Research and Methodology

The research was broken down into three phases, an initial scoping exercise, a literature review and the main stage of the fieldwork. The latter entailed:

• quantitative data from rent allowance clients obtained through a questionnaire;
• qualitative case studies of people dependent on rented accommodation;
• in-depth interviews with key agencies involved in housing.

Organising Quantitative Data

Having approved the methodology put forward by the research team, which focused on clients of community groups, the Social Development Working Group of the Partnership nominated 4 centres to assist with data collection. The team employed so-called purposive sampling, interviewing all available people who agreed to participate from the centres. The Working Group felt a total sample size of 200 was desirable. Thus, the researchers aimed to have 50 respondents from each quadrant. Each participating group agreed to administer the questionnaire to suitable respondents over a four week period, which fell between August and September.7

Taking into consideration feedback from agency meetings, and working closely with Robbert Lynch, a four-page questionnaire was designed and piloted in The Larkin Unemployed Centre. Following the pilot, changes were made in order to ensure clarity of response and the questionnaire was then delivered to the four organisations.

Throughout the main survey period, the research team maintained ongoing contact to support the centres in the survey work and offer help in the face of any difficulties they might encounter.

NOTE 7: Three of the organisations administered the questionnaire during the last two weeks in August and the first two weeks in September. As the Ringsend Community Group was on holidays during the month of August, they undertook to administer the questionnaire for the whole month of September.

The organisations from the Partnership experienced varying degrees of success in gaining access to respondents and, at the end of the survey period, the target number was not met. Initially, it was hoped that there would be a sufficient number of people with housing-related queries from which the sample could be derived in each centre. In practice, and despite the time of year, when rented accommodation comes under pressure because of student demand, it was necessary to widen the catchment to clients coming in to the centres with other queries. Each client was asked if s/he had experience of obtaining a rent allowance in the last three years and if s/he would be willing to participate in a survey. Interestingly, when told the questionnaire would take ten minutes, a number of potential respondents declined on the basis that they were unable to spare even that time.

Qualitative Data The Case Studies

As part of the initial scoping exercise, community organisations were asked if they would be able to nominate potential interviewees for an extended case study of their circumstances relating to rent allowance and private rented accommodation. All centres attempted to find suitable candidates and the case studies emerged from this process. The research team drew up an interview guide and individuals who had volunteered were contacted and interviewed at their own convenience, in their respective local centres. Interviews were tape-recorded, with the permission of the participants, and later transcribed in full. They were analysed for dominant themes and then edited for presentation in this report. All names of participants were changed in order to preserve anonymity.

It should be noted that all the volunteers were women, and that four of them were single parents, so the data in the case studies heavily represents the problems encountered by that category of welfare recipients.

Professional Perspectives - Agency Interviews

A list of relevant agencies was drawn up by the Social Development Working Group in the early stages of the research process. The research team made contact with these key agencies to arrange interviews, in order to obtain their perspectives on problems in the private rented sector, specifically related to the rent allowance and the scarcity of private rented units. They were also invited to explore possible solutions.

A critical element of the agency interviews was to obtain a multi-lensed focus which included all the key agencies, statutory, voluntary and professional organisations, including landlord representative bodies. The research team met with Threshold, Focus Ireland, the Eastern Health Board, the Irish Property Owners Association and the National Association for Professional Landlords. These interviews were not tape-recorded but comprehensive notes were made and their literature was canvassed. In some instances, notes were returned to interviewees at their request in order to ensure accuracy. Follow-up telephone calls were also made to clarify any ambiguity in the course of the interview.

Problems Encountered

The targeted four week time scale for quantitative data collection proved too short for most of the organisations who were unable to collect 50 questionnaires each. The time-scale was then lengthened in order to facilitate data collection.

Data collection proved particularly difficult for the Ringsend group, who were unable to administer the questionnaire to a sufficient number of participants due to the fact that the majority of the local population is housed in Dublin Corporation dwellings. To compensate for the shortfall, contact was then made with Sandymount Community Services, who volunteered to administer additional questionnaires through their Community Employment scheme.

Other difficulties ranged from lack of available personnel to help with the administration of the questionnaire, to lack of familiarity with all the issues on the part of voluntary staff, to pressures of time for individual clients. The final number of completed questionnaires was 126. Of those which were returned, some still had missing data, due to non-response, but all were entered for computer analysis.

Some of the qualitative interviews were also difficult to arrange. One potential interviewee (nominated by CIC) had scheduled to meet with the research team, but was unwell on the day and was unavailable for rescheduling. Similarly, the Sandymount group was unable to organise a case study. To make up for this shortfall, two interviews were conducted in both the Ringsend Community Centre and the Larkin Unemployed Centre.

Section 4 - Accessing Private Rented Accommodation: Quantitative Data

Final Sample Size

As already stated, a total of 126 questionnaires were completed by clients of five different participating organisations: Larkin Unemployed Centre, CIC (Beresford Street and O'connell Street), SICCDA, Ringsend Community Group and Sandymount Community Services.

Quantitative Findings

Notes:

1. In certain questions participants gave more than one answer, so in those questions, categories were not mutually exclusive, i.e. the total amounts to more than 126.
2. The actual percentage takes into account missing figures, i.e. categories not stipulated by respondents.
3. The questionnaire was completed by people who had availed of rent allowance in the past three years or were currently in receipt of same.

Demographic Variables

The tables and diagrams below gather together the demographic information on the respondents.

Table 2 breaks down the sample by postal district, showing that the largest number of respondents had a postal address in Dublin 8, forty-four (or 34.92 per cent), followed by Dublin 3, with twenty-seven respondents (21.43 per cent).

As a whole, the sample suggests no real mobility of clients between the various quadrants. For example, all the Dublin 8 respondents answered questionnaires coming from SICCDA while people living in postal districts 1, 3, and 7 sought advice from the Larkin Centre. The total number of respondents coming from postal districts covered by the Partnership was 109 or 86.5 per cent.

Women made up 60 per cent of respondents. The sample size was expanded to include not just people with housing queries, but those who presented with a variety of queries in respective centres. Therefore, this gender breakdown may simply reflect women coming in greater numbers to the centres, seeking advice and information on other, quite separate issues like training and unemployment.

NOTE 8: It is worth noting that the gender breakdown of people attending services in the Larkin Unemployed Centre is approximately 70:30 ratio of women to men, while Threshold reports a56:41 ratio of women to men, with 3 per cent of their callers being couples.

NB Some respondents had qualifications in more than one category, e.g. Leaving Certificate and FÁS course.

Educational details set out in the above table indicate that almost 47 per cent of respondents did not have Leaving Certificate qualifications; of these, 25 per cent had left school before the Junior Certificate with no qualifications. At the other end of the spectrum only 8.73 per cent had a university degree. It is however possible to suggest that of the 13.49 per cent with either a third level certificate or diploma, there are a number of people without a Leaving Certificate who have nonetheless found it possible to access some educational training at third level institutes. The largest single educational category was the Post-Leaving Certificate course, while almost 25 per cent had participated in a FÁS or other government training course.

Reflecting regulations on eligibility for rent allowance, the table above indicates that only a tiny percentage of the sample were in full-time employment, 5.5 per cent, while the largest number of respondents, 51 (40 per cent) were unemployed. The next largest category comprised those working on CE schemes, 27 people or 21 per cent. Some people were working part-time while a small number were casual workers, claiming unemployment for the days they were not working. Five people were on the Whole-time Jobs Initiative. The important issue underlying this data is that of continued eligibility for rent allowance if one wishes to re-enter the work force. This was a theme which also emerged in the course of the case studies, and it will be discussed in later sections of the report.

NB Some respondents received more than one Social Welfare payment.

Of the 126 respondents, 94 (or 74 per cent) stated they were in receipt of social welfare payments. The diagram shows the breakdown of social welfare categories they reported. The largest number of social welfare respondents were receiving unemployment assistance, followed by those who were in receipt of the one parent allowance. Twelve people were on a CE scheme with the small income top-up advantage that brings, while ten people were receiving unemployment benefit. Four people were on disability benefit.

There are disparities between the replies to this question and the replies to the previous question on unemployment, possibly the outcome of people's perceptions of themselves which may differ from the official definitions. For example, 51 respondents thought of themselves as 'unemployed' but 54 people were in receipt of either unemployment assistance or unemployment benefit.

The largest single group comprised those living alone, forty-one of the respondents (32.5 per cent). The second largest group, forty respondents (or

31.7 per cent) were single parent families. There were a further four one-parent families, one sharing accommodation with a family member and three living in shared accommodation with non-family members. It is worth noting again that 38 of the lone parent units were in receipt of the one parent family allowance. In other words, 6 single parents were not claiming the one parent family allowance.

In summary, the demographic data indicates a sample formed predominantly of younger adults who will have been living independently of their first family home for some years. Just under half the sample did not have Leaving Certificate qualifications, a quarter of the sample being very early school leavers. Just over a fifth have engaged in a FÁS or other government training scheme. Almost a third of the sample was made up of one parent families with another third living alone. In accordance with the rules of the SWA rent allowance scheme, the sample was, by definition, a very low income one, with the vast majority of respondents living on some combination of social welfare allowances. Only five people (4 per cent) were on the Whole-time Jobs Initiative.

This suggests a picture of a vulnerable housing population, unable to command resources to rent at the higher end of the market where there may be greater autonomy, greater protection, and better standards of accommodation.

Quality of Rented Accommodation

The table below presents the data on the type of household of each of the respondents: whether they live alone or share accommodation, and if the latter, with which family members they live.

The most common pattern was a one bedroom flat with self-contained kitchen and shower/bathroom, 28 per cent, followed by a two-bedroomed flat with self-contained kitchen and shower/bathroom, where 16.6 per cent of the respondents are currently living. A bed-sitter with self contained shower/bathroom was the accommodation for 11 per cent, while a further 11 per cent had a bed-sit with shared toilet and bathing facilities. 19.85 per cent were living in a house, although a mere 13.5 per cent were living as a self-contained family unit with children in the housing type most usually associated with a family, the two or three bedroomed house. Yet 41 per cent of respondents had children.

This question had a high non-response rate with 18 respondents or 14.2 per cent leaving it blank. But of those who did respond, 58 per cent, or 63 respondents, did not have a lease.

Rent books however, are now a dominant feature, as Diagram 6 indicates, with only twenty-six respondents not having one. Nevertheless for these 26 people, their landlords are in breach of the 1992 legislation.

Of those who responded to a question on their ability to lock their accommodation, 98 per cent indicated that they can secure their accommodation with lock and key, two people recording that they cannot. Seven people did not respond to this question.

However, as Diagram 8 below indicates, autonomy is a less common rather than more common experience, with 61 per cent of respondents replying that their landlords have a key to their personal accommodation.

A disturbingly high number of people, 22, simply did not know if the landlord can enter their accommodation with a key. Not surprisingly, landlords have their own take on this situation, most often expressed as a need to protect their own property. This issue will be taken up in the discussion on the agency interviews. But here, it is vital to point out that from the viewpoint of the tenant, there is no protection from the landlord's unsolicited intrusion for the majority in our study, except through personal negotiation and setting of boundaries.9

Finding Rented Accommodation

People searched for a relatively long period of time to obtain what they now have. Diagram 9 looks at the time people spent searching until they found their present accommodation. Almost 39 per cent spent between 1 and 6 months searching, while an additional 29.3 per cent accomplished this task between 1 week and 1 month. Only 9.5 per cent found new accommodation in under a week, while at the other end of the spectrum, almost 12 per cent spent between 6 months and 2 years, or longer.

NOTE 9: See Case Study 1 for an illustration of intrusiveness of some landlords.

The number of enquiries people made before securing their current accommodation is laid out in Diagram 10.

Just under 58 per cent managed to find accommodation with under eleven enquiries only. But at the other end of the scale, a small minority, 13.5 per cent had to make more than 20 enquiries while 18.2 per cent or 23 respondents had to make between 11 and 20 telephone calls. As the case studies bear out, the strain of making even ten enquiries is considerable, especially if the prospective tenant has children. The process can also be expensive for an already limited income, as well as time-consuming, adding in telephone calls, travel costs to go and view and newspaper costs.

The single greatest source of information on a new vacancy for respondents was friends, family or neighbours, 40 per cent, followed by newspaper advertisements at 25 per cent. Queries through agencies comprised the third most often used source and although this affected only 12 per cent or 15 respondents, it must be put alongside the very low-income status of the sample and the fact that agency fees represent a further tax on entry to housing. A surprising finding is that landlords were more often a source of information than even the CWO or Health Board clinic.

The responses to these three questions, length of time, number of enquiries, and sources of information, offer some important data about the strain on people in finding new accommodation and the sporadic and haphazard nature of finding out where they might seek better accommodation.

Over a third of respondents had searched for their current accommodation because their previous quarters were physically unsatisfactory or undesirable, as Diagram 12 indicates, while just 25 per cent needed to move because of family reasons, including family difficulties. The reasons for moving are clearly as diverse as people's lives, given that 26 per cent listed other reasons altogether for wishing to move. But what is at issue here is the right of people to move to new accommodation, regardless of the reason, compared with the sheer difficulty of doing so.

Difficulties of finding accommodation are further exacerbated by the responses of landlords to their circumstances. Often people sourced accommodation they would like but were unable to get over the hurdles (from the landlord's perspective) of two major drawbacks, a) having children and b), having a rent allowance.

Half the respondents had been refused accommodation by a landlord because they were in receipt of rent allowance. Table 10 presents the data on the numbers of times people have been refused.

Of those who were refused, forty per cent of respondents were refused accommodation on the grounds of being rent allowance tenants between one and three times; thirty per cent were refused between four and six times. Fourteen per cent had been refused between seven and nine times while five per cent were refused ten times or more.

Of the sub-sample of 44 lone parents, 32 or 72.73 per cent had been refused accommodation on the grounds of their being lone parents. Twelve people in this group were refused between four and five times; two people had been refused eight times.

Of the 38 people on one parent family payment, 32 felt that they had been discriminated against by landlords because of their Lone Parent status. This represents 84.2%.

Refusal because of having children was the unanimous experience for the eight couples with children: all had been refused.

These figures on the reasons for refusal are a remarkable indictment of the failure of the private rented sector to respond to the needs of families, however constituted.

In Diagram 13, we can see the length of time respondents have lived in their current accommodation. It is a relatively stable pattern with almost 55 per cent of respondents having lived where they now are for longer than one year. Almost 28 per cent have lived in their current accommodation for more than two years. Nevertheless, this does not equate with extensive feelings of security and, as the case studies will indicate, respondents have experienced difficulty in this respect.

Current Rental Costs and Rental Allowance

Our data indicates an average weekly rent of 56.77. The minimum recorded in the questionnaire data was 30 a week, while the maximum was 130.

Table 14 illustrates that the average weekly amount of rent allowance was 45.07. The minimum was 12.50 paid to a single male tenant sharing a two bedroomed flat. The maximum was 88.75, paid to a lone parent of three, living in a three-bedroomed house.

note 10: This woman did not receive a rent allowance although she was entitled to one, as her landlord refused to accept rent allowance tenants. For further information, see Case Study 2.

Table 15 below shows that the average weekly amount that a tenant had to pay on top of rent allowance cheque was 18.29. The minimum was 6.00, paid by a female living alone in a bedsit, with access to a shower and toilet. The maximum was 50.00, paid by a single woman living with her child in a two-bedroomed house. Ten pounds of this was an unofficial top-up payment to the landlord, without the knowledge of the Health Board.

NOTE 11: Twenty-four participants were not in receipt of rent allowance at the time of the questionnaire administration.

Diagram 14 indicates that a large majority of tenants in this sample, 100, pay rent only. Four people pay a rent that includes heat and for two people the rental includes ESB bill. There is always a potential problem for tenants in this position related to the lack of control over bill-paying for utilities. For example, during certain seasonal quarters, they may end up paying in excess of the actual bill, but they are left without the flexibility of handling their own financial resources to meet this bill.

But there was yet another additional payment made by some respondents, 23 in number, which may be related to accommodation that ordinarily would be considered too expensive on the scale of rents used by Community Welfare Officers. An alternative way of dealing with this problem is for the landlord to claim the rent is at a level which meets the EHB ceiling. But in fact, the tenant must then make the top-up payment in order to retain the accommodation. People in this situation may be under greater financial strain in meeting rental costs without a rent allowance at the right level.

Applying for and Obtaining Rent Allowance from CWOs

In finding their current accommodation, 51 respondents in receipt of rent allowance had received assistance with a deposit for their accommodation from the Community Welfare Officer; 49 had not received any assistance. (See Interview with Nigel Nolan in the Eastern Health Board for illustration of discretionary nature of granting assistance with deposit).

Twenty-seven respondents or just over 20 per cent were in a position to get back their deposit for former accommodation and carry it over to current accommodation. The greater number of respondents however, 60 per cent, did not do so.

Of the entire sample, forty-eight people had been on rent allowance in their previous accommodation.

Table 19 sets out the numbers of people whose application for rent allowance was refused, and Table 20 shows what reasons for refusal respondents were given by Health Board CWOs.

Thirty-nine respondents or just under one third of the total sample faced a situation of being refused their application for rent allowance by the Health Board.

Respondents did not record being refused a rent allowance on the grounds that the hygiene or safety of the accommodation was questionable. Nor did any respond that the Health Board did not subsidise a particular landlord. These reasons, while uncommon, have emerged in the course of client interviews with information and welfare rights officers (Personal Communication, Robbert Lynch).

Twelve of the respondents (or 30.7 per cent) who were refused were not given a reason. Six people were told that their intended accommodation was too large for their family size and therefore ineligible for subsidy. Twenty-one respondents or 54 per cent were told that their intended accommodation was considered to be living beyond their means, that the applicants' level of income was too low to support such a rent.

Following on from this issue of rent subsidy levels, Table 21 sets out for discussion whether respondents were told the maximum amount payable for rent allowance.

With a non-response rate of 8 per cent or ten respondents, the sample otherwise broke down into fifty-five people or 44 per cent who were told the maximum amount available compared with sixty-one respondents or 48 per cent who were not told what the ceiling on rent allowances was.

The same issue of non-communication was found in the question on exceptional needs payment with over two-thirds of the sample not being told about availability of it and only just a quarter definitely being told of its existence (Table 22).

Finally, there were two questions asked of respondents about the helpfulness of CWOs and the privacy of the Health Board clinic interview setting. From Table 23, we learn that thirteen people, or 10 per cent of respondents found their CWOs very helpful, with forty-seven, or 37 per cent finding their CWO helpful. So just under half the sample were content with the service they received. But 44 per cent, or 56 respondents were not as pleased; 37 respondents, or 29 per cent rated their CWO not very helpful while 19, or 15 per cent rated them as unhelpful.

It is plausible that in some instances, a CWO being seen as unhelpful reflects his/her lack of knowledge of the system in all its complexity, or reflects the fact that the rules of the system leave them with no choice but to make rulings which are far from helpful. Nevertheless there are continuing problems with the discretionary element of supplementary welfare payments, as discussed in Section 2 of this document. This study concludes that much work remains to be done to ensure that CWOs are responding fully and fairly to each of their clients. The other critical issue, however, is that even with discretion on payments, CWOs cannot impact on the structure of the private rented sector and the problems of that sector make the CWO into an unfortunate apologist for its failings.

People still experience a significant problem in being left with insufficient privacy in Health Board centres when discussing their personal situations. Table 25 shows that 69 respondents, or 55 per cent, found this unacceptable while just under two-fifths of the sample, 49 respondents, felt matters had improved in this regard.

Refusing Housing Offers

Respondents represent a vulnerable group of people who do not have a strong economic grip and thus nothing to trade with in the housing market. The only controlling action they can freely exercise is the negative one of refusing absolutely unacceptable accommodation.

In dealing with the private rented sector and despite their knowledge of how difficult it is for them to obtain accommodation tailored to their personal and family needs, 76 respondents or 60 per cent had refused accommodation offered to them (Table 25).

The reasons for refusal are laid out in Table 26.

NB Some respondents cited more than one reason for refusing accommodation

Over a third of respondents, 34 per cent, found the accommodation too small for their needs, while an additional 21 per cent found the accommodation too unhygienic. Just under twenty per cent found the accommodation located in an undesirable neighbourhood and refused on these grounds. Just 4 per cent found the accommodation offered was unsafe and had to refuse.

Unless the social housing and co-operative sector is given resources to expand considerably, the only realistic alternative for low-income tenants in the private rented sector which would give them security of tenure and a fair rent is local authority housing. Table 27 indicates that 67 respondents or just 53 per cent are currently on the housing list of Dublin Corporation.

The wait for acceptable and appropriate housing can be a long one. Table 28 sets out these details. Four per cent had been registered for under a year, while 43 per cent of respondents who were registered had been on the list between one and three years. But 39 per cent or 26 respondents had been on the list for between three and eight years, with five per cent being on the list for eight years or more. This reflects the drastic implications in the downturn of the local authority housing programme and it should perhaps be remembered that the sample as a whole is a young rather than an ageing sample, but one which is seemingly in for a lengthy wait for accommodation from the local authority.

Offers have been made as Table 29 indicates but these have not been found acceptable for the following reasons:

We have already cited evidence above that twenty-three respondents are paying additional sums to their landlords above the declared rent to the Health Board to try and deal with the situation of finding adequate accommodation but knowing it falls outside the financial range of rent allowances set. This data also emerges in one of the case studies. It is linked to the serious issue of the scarcity of accommodation available and the indifferent quality of much of the accommodation at the lower end of the private rented sector. This is an area for action. People who are entitled by virtue of their low income to receive a rent allowance must receive this allowance set at a realistic level in relation to the market. It cannot be left to the individual Community Welfare Officer to determine whether or not accommodation is too expensive. In effect this penalises the tenant of the private rented sector for the high cost of rents and the lack of any alternative, including local authority housing whereby to solve their housing problems. It is particularly serious in respect of the needs of families with children. Again, the case studies will indicate that a number of families are living in inadequate conditions. Eastern Health Board guidelines must reflect the state of the private rented sector and the rents being charged, rather than focusing on income levels of tenants.

Overall, the quantitative data presents a sobering account of the realities of trying to secure reasonably-priced, secure and adequate housing in the private rented sector. There are several outstanding issues which stand out as making life very difficult for the low-income person who is a prospective tenant:

• the limited supply of inadequate accommodation on the market;
• being a rent allowance holder leading to refusal;
• having children leading to refusal;
• a scale of rent allowances which is pitched too low for market prices.

It is beyond the scope of this study to enter into a discussion of rent allowances and the links between them and landlords in the private rented sector. Whether low income housing should be provided and supported by the state in this manner is not the remit of this study. But it is the remit of the study to examine the difficulties people experience in getting and keeping decent accommodation. The case studies will further bear out the findings from this section.

Section 5 - Living in the Private Rented Sector: 5 Case Studies

The second element of the fieldwork was a series of interviews/case studies with tenants who had availed of the information services in the four participating organisations.12 As stated in the methodology section, the intention behind collecting these case studies was to contextualise the information from the questionnaire survey by gaining fine-grained detail about people's experiences of both the rent allowance scheme and the private rented sector. The data from the five case studies is presented in this section, followed by a summary of the principal themes which were common to all of them.

In his preface to this report, Robbert Lynch draws attention to the special problems faced by families with children, especially single parent families, in trying to find satisfactory solutions to housing in the private rented sector. That the nature and scope of the difficulties encountered by families is widespread, perhaps accounts for the fact that the individuals who volunteered to be interviewed for the case studies were all parents. Four of them were single parents, reflecting the reality of the increased numbers of single parent families who are entirely dependent on social welfare, and who, if they not being housed by the local authority, must use rent allowance to gain a foothold at the lower end of the private rented sector. Above all, the case studies emphasise the vulnerability of these families stemming from their tenuous hold on safe secure housing at an affordable price.

Case Study 1 - Ciara

Ciara is a separated woman, who with her fifteen year old daughter, lives in the Dublin 3 area. Separated for twelve years, she turned to the private rented sector because the overcrowding in her mother's house became too difficult to manage and because her application to Dublin Corporation for housing had proved fruitless Although her first application some four years ago for rent allowance was turned down, she has now been receiving rent allowance for two and a half years. She is currently on a Community Employment Scheme.

For Ciara, her current living accommodation, a one-bedroomed flat, actually marks an improvement over her previous accommodation. Like 43 of the respondents to the questionnaire who were living in a one-bedroomed flat, of whom 8 shared toilet facilities, Ciara and her daughter have done so in the past. But this flat is self-contained. It is also somewhat larger:

I have a fifteen-year old daughter living with me in {Name} Street. I'm only round there a year and a half. I was around in {Name} Avenue, but it was tiny, the flat was, it was only an attic and one room. And I'm after getting this now, but I've me own bathroom. I used to have to share a bathroom around there. But I've me own bathroom now, in this house. Well, I've the top of the house, its just a big, huge sitting-room, but I've me own bedroom and a shower. Round there, I hadn't, I had to share a toilet and a shower and things with another girl and another fella down the bottom.

NOTE 12: The interviewee from the Citizens Information Centre was unwell on the day and unable to attend. Two case studies were conducted in Ringsend Community Centre instead.

The first time Ciara sought rent allowance, she was refused it:

Well, when I went about it, about four year ago, I went after a house down in East Wall, and {Name of CWO} told me that I wasn't entitled to a rent allowance. So I never bothered then I thought he was very rude. I didn't think he was one bit nice. Unpleasant. I just didn't think he was nice, even from the time I went in. He just said, No, I'm sorry, you're not entitled to it, the Board wont accept it. So I didn't bother, I just thought he was horrible, I didn't think he was one bit nice. No help at all, no.

Ciara had actually borrowed the deposit for the house she wanted to rent, but when the community welfare officer told her she had no entitlement to rent allowance, she had to let the house go and move instead into a very cramped flat:

He told me I wasn't And I had me deposit and all. I was after getting a lend of it, like, off me mother. So the house went, it was gone. So I had to go after that flat, it was tiny, in {Name} Avenue.

At that point, Ciara had already been a single parent for some years, but was living in her mothers house with her own daughter, leading to overcrowded conditions:

Yeah, on me own for years. Living in me ma's for a long time. On me ma's floor. I was on me ma's floor, now, for a long time. And there was seven of us, and Diane had to sleep in the boxroom with me.

Having failed to get the East Wall house, Ciara then found a flat in {Name} Avenue and applied to a different EHB clinic for rent allowance:

So then I got {Name} Avenue, and you know {Name of CWO} down in the North Strand? She was very good now, she told me exactly. She said I should have been entitled to the rent allowance down in East Wall.

She also got assistance with the deposit for the flat, for which the weekly rent was 75, from the North Strand clinic:

This time I went to {Name of CWO} down on the North Strand, and she was very nice. She gave me a form, I filled it in, I said, Any chance of the deposit, {Name of CWO}? She said, Ciara, I cannot give you all of the deposit, but I will give you half of it, that's what you're entitled to. So she gave me 150. And I got the lend of 150 off me mother.

Ciara has been on the Dublin Corporation housing list since she went back to live in her mothers home, following her separation from her husband, approximately twelve years previously. No-one from the Corporation has ever come to meet her to assess her situation. She has been made offers of accommodation but Ciara explains that she was unhappy with these because they would have removed her from the neighbourhood where her family lives and proximity to them is a vital social support for her as a single parent:

I was separated since she (daughter) was three, so I was on me ma's floor, and the Corporation never even bothered coming out near me, and I'm a long time on their list and they never even bothered. They offered me Ballymun, Tallaght, Clondalkin, but I don't want there, do you know what I mean, its too far out. I want a local house, like around, you know what I mean?

The quantitative data indicates that of the thirty respondents who were offered Dublin Corporation accommodation, most refused, citing various different reasons (see Section 4 for details). Ciara is dismayed by her lack of options and is resigned to the fact that she will never have accommodation that she can truly think of as her own home:

Ill be left there for life, and its never me own home, because I cant do what you like to do, you know what I mean?

Ciara had considered going on the Whole-time Jobs Initiative but realised that she would lose her rent allowance. With rent at 75 per week, she would have to pay the full amount to her landlord and then contend with her ESB bill as well. As she would also lose most of her single parent benefit, her back-to school grant, and her medical card, a possible take-home pay of 130-140 simply would not stretch to cover her basic needs, especially as her daughter requires special and ongoing medical care for her eyes.

Ciara's dilemma is a disturbing but typical example of how the SWA rent allowance has become an essential part of the budgets for those dependent on social welfare. But on the other hand, they face a continuing impasse in trying to improve their circumstances, because the escalating cost of housing on the open market is not integrated into initiatives that encourage greater engagement in the paid work force. If Ciara had been given a reasonable offer of accommodation from Dublin Corporation, she could by now have applied for the Whole-time Jobs Initiative, knowing that her rent would be adjusted according to her means. As it is, the cost of housing traps her in inadequate accommodation.

In attempting to find satisfactory housing, Ciara has experienced discrimination, both as a lone parent and as a rent allowance tenant:

one or two out in Clontarf or Fairview, one or two of them wouldn't just wear you at all. They don't accept rent allowance. And another one I went after out on the Howth Road, he didn't like the idea of kids. Diane was twelve at the time, and as soon as I mentioned her, he said, Oh, no, I thought you were on your own, no kids, sorry. And most of them (landlords), about four or five that I know, don't deal with the Clinic.

Ciara's rent allowance cheque is paid directly to the landlord. She had not realised that it could be made out in her name. Ciara said that when she had gone for rent allowance she was told that the CWO needed to have the landlords RSI number, which he had not given her. She had to go back to the landlord and ask him for it. He was reluctant to give it to her, but eventually did.

She does not have a lease for her present accommodation, but she does have a rent book. The landlord calls once a month to collect the rent. He has access to her house, but appears to rarely let himself in if she is not there. This situation contrasts with that of her previous experience, where she felt that she had no privacy. Ciara was very uncomfortable for her own sake and for the safety of her daughter because the landlord had access and entry without announcing himself:

Well, he (Current Landlord) has a set of keys, but he never really bothers us now, I have to say that about him. But your last man did, around in {Street Name}. He was cheeky, you know what I mean? He'd just come in on top of you. You could be cooking or you could be after being in the shower or something, and he'd just open the door, he wouldn't even knock, do you know what I mean? So I had to pull him on that, cause with Diane, so I said to him, I don't like it. He said, Well, this is my home. I said, Its supposed to be mine, and Id like some privacy; I'm paying you. And in future, would you please knock, or ring the intercom and let me know that you're coming up. But {the present landlord} wouldn't, now, he would knock, or he would ring {Neighbour} and say, I'm coming up, I have ESB bills for you, or something.

Ciara's electricity is run on a meter, which operates on a system of pre-paid tokens, which she buys from the landlord. When she requires heating, she must purchase extra cards, as an electric heater is her only means of generating heat:

No, I've no heating in the house. I bought an electric fire. I've no heat, I've no fire. Now, in the winter, I do have to get a few extra cards, cause it does be freezing, do you know what I mean? No, there's no heating in the house, I've no fire, the house does be freezing in the winter. I have an instant shower thing, there's one of them, and I've a little one in the kitchen, a shower thing. It does be freezing in the winter. I do have to put an electric blanket on the bed, cause its a big, old house.

Although she feels that there is enough privacy in her local Health Centre, she dislikes queuing to see the Welfare Officer:

Yeah, there's always (queues), normally, especially for (Name of CWO), there's always a good few. Yeah, she deals with an awful lot Maybe two hours, two and a half hours, it depends if you get there early, you get in early, you know what I mean? But if you're not, there's about ten or fifteen in front of you.

She has a good relationship with her present landlord, a change from previous experiences:

Well (the present landlord) is all right, he's the only one I've found all right. He's quite genuine, he's not a gangster, like half of them. He's all right, and if I need anything, if I need some paint or something for the flat, hell get me it. He'd say, Take it out of the rent, do you know what I mean? Or if I wanted curtains or that, he'd say, Well, take a few bob. You know what I mean, he's genuine like that now, where your other man wouldn't be.

Ciara would like to obtain a full-time job, recognising that this is the only way she can have a more secure future. However, the fear of losing her rent allowance will impact on whatever decisions she makes regarding employment:

I don't want to spend the rest of me life on the social welfare. I want to get a job, I want to better me life, I don't want to be down all the time. Id love to go on the Job Initiative, I really would, but I cant, just cant, unless when {Daughter} gets older and she leaves me, maybe Ill be able to. And then, Id still lose me rent allowance, Id still have to pay 75 a week.

Case Study 2 - Natalie

Natalie is a twenty-five year old French woman who lives with her boyfriend and their daughter in the Dublin 8 area. She has a degree in Arts, but is not employed at the moment, although she is actively looking for work. As her partner is a student, he is not presently in paid work either. She receives Unemployment Assistance and is entitled to a Rent Allowance. She has, however, experienced great difficulty in finding accommodation; landlords have refused to accept them as tenants either because they had a Rent Allowance or because they have a child.

When they first returned from France early in 1997, they stayed with her partners sister for two weeks while they looked for their own accommodation. After making approximately ten enquiries, Natalie eventually found a two-bedroom house through an agency. However, this landlord will not accept Rent Allowance and Natalie will have to find another way to pay the monthly rent of 520.13 They have signed a lease on this accommodation and will have a rent book.

After two weeks it was so difficult to stay in a place, where, it was not our place. And because of the child. And everybody was refusing because of the child. Then we took the first place where the landlady or the landlord just accept children. No problem with children, we take it anyway, even if it was expensive and everything.

13 At the time of the interview, Natalie and her family had been living in their new house for only three days.

Natalie would be unable to get a rent allowance without the landlords knowledge, as the landlord must sign a document with the Eastern Health Board before the arrangement is made. She is looking for work now so that she will be able to pay the rent. She feels she will be able to get a place on a Community Employment scheme. But she will also now have to face the expense of creche facilities:

The thing is, its going to be difficult, because I have to take a job to pay my rent. And if I take a job, I have to put my child in a creche. Then I have to pay for the creche its just mad. We are looking this afternoon, and I don't know, being on Community Employment scheme, can I get the Family Income Supplement? Cause without that, there's no way I can survive. Everything will go in bills and stuff.

Because Natalie has signed a one year lease on her house, even if she now finds accommodation where the landlord accepts Rent Allowance, she is tied into an agreement with her present landlord, who would be entitled to keep the deposit (one months rent), which she cannot afford. The rent levels are punitive. But on the other hand, Natalie chose not to lie to Social Welfare by putting herself forward as a single parent, which would have netted her more financial help in the short-term:

I've never lied to them (Social Welfare office) because I just don't want to have problems, and as a foreigner here already. I didn't want at first to get the dole We were in France for three months, but downstairs they told me,You have to, until you get a job. How do you want to survive? And its true, I had twenty pounds in my pocket, last week. And that's mad, the rent at the moment in Dublin anyway is incredible. I've never seen that before. Its like Paris that's what you have to pay now for a two bedroom and we needed a two bedroom, for the baby as well. Last year we were living in a matchbox. It was not possible.

She feels she would be better off with a mortgage, as they will end up with no stake in a better housing future after paying rent. They could have paid a lower rent but the accommodation was so extremely poor that it would have posed a risk to her baby's health. They plan to leave the country next year.

Its mad because if you don't have money, you have to live in a skip. And that's not fair, everybody deserves dignity like and a proper place to live in Cause we visited some places, nightmare, in the basement, black, dark. I don't want to live here.

Natalie has most usually told landlords about her daughter over the phone, instead of calling to see a flat and then discovering that they do not accept children. Landlords have reacted negatively:

We've got a child. Ah, no children. You know, neighbours And insurance, they speak about the insurance, about animals and children, its a problem with the insurance .Or we go to places, we see the flat, there's no problem, until we say we have a child. Or by the agency, in our file its written we have a one year old child, and then when were interested in one flat or house, the agency ring the landlords, no problem, and when he knows that we've got a child, its finished. It happens so often, and it just makes me crazy. They have to do something about that. That's not fair to refuse a child. I think its like being racist really. Its the same for me, refusing coloured people or children I don't know, they're scared maybe that the child will break things, or whatever. I don't know if they have children, these people.

Natalie paid an agency 40 to find accommodation for her and then she was allowed to look in their books, which are updated Daily. When she saw somewhere she liked, the agency rang the landlord to make an appointment. She hopes to find employment soon, while will help her to pay the rent.

We took that place as well because it was really, I wanted to find a job I mean I need to Even I said yesterday when I went down to the office, that Id love to work in a creche or something. I would like to get a CE scheme

She is unsure of her rights under the Social Welfare system and was not aware that she could have received assistance with paying a deposit on accommodation, although she felt that her Community Welfare Officer was helpful:

I would like to know if I can get the Family Income Supplement, because if not, I would be paid the same on the dole but then, if I have to pay creche, everything, there's no way. Its terrible, because I want to work, but when you're paid nothing, its mad.

Natalie also encountered difficulties when dealing with the Social Welfare office; they felt she was not actively seeking work because she was breast-feeding her child.

I remember getting that letter from the dole office, saying that they wanted to interview me. And I arrived and the man said, Well, what are you doing at the moment? And I said, Well, I'm taking care of my child. I'm breast-feeding her. I breast-fed her eight months and a half. And em, he said, What? You still breast-feed her? And he was looking, she's got no teeth. And I couldn't believe what I was facing What, you're still breast-feeding her, but then you're not entitled to the dole, cause you're not available for work. And that was really strange cause I was thinking okay, then as a mother, I cant be a mother at home, cause I cant get money then. He said, No, your boyfriend has to support you. And then I couldn't believe. And he said Well listen, you get your money. You're leaving for France in two weeks. Then he asked me why. That's my own business as well. And he said, Listen, you get the money until you go back to France, but don't think in September its going to be that easy. And he threatened me. And I couldn't believe, it was like, wow. And I've never reported him. I was just shaking and go out of the office, crying and everything .As a mother with a child, I had more problem than before for the dole, for the rent allowance, whatever.

She feels that there should be more supports for mothers who want to take care of their children in the home.

There should be something for mother at home, to have the right to be mother at home. He thought I was lazy. No that's a full time job, to be mammy And he thought I was lying or something. She's got no teeth. That's my business And afterwards he was insisting. Is it because I'm French, you want me to go away or something? You know And he wrote this letter with red ink in my file, In September when she comes back

Natalie compared her experiences in Ireland to the situation in France, where children are valued and the pregnant woman and young mother is very heavily supported by the state:

as a French person having a child in France anyway, there's just so many differences. I could have gone back to France to have my baby and I would have got a lot of money, to help me, for the first child. And as a, I mean, from before birth, after birth until they're three years old, there's loads of money like. Something like four hundred pounds a month I've got twenty nine (Irish Children's Allowance), thirty a month. You know, and I decided to stay for my boyfriend as well because he wanted to be there for the child, and I, that's fair enough. That's my choice. But the difference is just huge. I remember my best friend was pregnant at the same time as me, and she said, from before birth, I think its around six months, you get ninety pounds a month, before birth. From birth you get, as a single mother she had two thousand pounds, at the birth. Two thousand pounds at the birth, to help her to start. And after, until they're three years old, between three hundred and four hundred pounds a month to help. They just encourage people to make babies the money wouldn't encourage me one way or not, its just fantastic to have a child. But when you meet so many problems in France you've got public creches, lots of them. And I heard from my Health Board nurse, Public Health Nurse, that there was mostly private creches in Dublin Its mad because I wanted to stay at home with my child. I just love to spend time with her, especially because she's progressing so much at the moment, and shell be one. And then to think that I have to work, and I will have to put her in a creche, without really wanting it, you know.

Case Study 3 - Viv

Viv is a single mother of two children who are aged seven and four. She has been on a Rent Allowance for almost five years, and has been on a CE scheme since July of this year. When she first sought accommodation, she wanted something in the same area where she grew up. Her current rent is 73 per week, of which she pays 10 to 12. She gets on well with her present landlord, and hopes to eventually get a Corporation house, although she feels there is little chance of being offered one in the area she wants:

I'm on the Corporation housing list since I had my first child .I was offered Pearse Street once, and I refused to take it, but I've never been offered a flat in Ringsend, that's nearly seven and a half years.

She describes the scarcity of private rented accommodation in Ringsend:

Not in Ringsend itself - the surrounding areas, Sandymount, Ballsbridge, that's the only areas. You know, the apartments like Fisherman's Wharf or the likes of that, they're the only apartments I know that is rentable in Ringsend I have seen them advertised for 480 a month I never went for one of them, I only went for the flat that I'm in at the moment. Well, I did actually try a few other ones, and when I first started to look for a flat I was working part-time, and the way it worked out, if I kept working Id have to pay all the rent meself. They'd give 10 off it, it was 10 or 11, something like that. So I decided to stay at home for a while longer.

As with other interviewees, Viv experienced difficulties in finding a landlord who would accept tenants who were in receipt of rent allowance and who also had children:

Its five years I'm living down there, and I was looking for a place for about a year before that. I know there was quite a few places that when Id ring up and ask them did they take rent allowance, they said, No. And other ones, did they want children, No. Because some of their reasons was, Well, there's all only single people here and they wouldn't like kids running around. That was their reasons.

Viv described where she is living now:

You know one of the old Victorian houses across from the church in Sandymount. Its up there Its all converted He built a big extension out the back and I'm in the extension part, that's where I am.

She does not have to attend the CWO on a regular basis since the rent allowance cheque is posted directly to her. She notes that she is paid in arrears:

No, when I first started getting it, I had to pay the four weeks rent first myself, and then at the end of the four weeks, they reimbursed me, but that was for the next four weeks, so I'm kind of always in four weeks arrears with them, not with the landlord, with the CWO. And I pay, well, since I've started, because there's so many where I live getting the rent allowance, he usually goes down once a month with forms and gets one big cheque but I was so used to paying it me own way that I kept up the form meself, and I send in the form every four weeks, and they send me out a cheque.

Similarly, she communicates with the CWOs by post:

Yeah, there's a letterbox, there's a postbox inside in the Clinic. But they wont send it out unless you have this form filled in properly.

She got some help from her CWO with the deposit, but she had to borrow the remainder. She then found that having to repay this money left her struggling to survive:

they gave me maybe one or two hundred pounds, but the deposit was like four hundred I just had to borrow it. Its a bit stupid when you think of it, you're moving into rented accommodation, and you cant afford to pay. Like, at the time, I think it was 68 a week, and I had one child, and it was just very hard. You know, I got the rent cheque, and then I was paying back the people I owed, so it still meant Id be struggling for the next four weeks. You know, so its Catch-22. They don't give you the money at the start of your month, they give it at the end Well, I did catch up eventually, months later, months and months later, I did eventually catch up on meself.

Viv is on a CE scheme, and hopes to get part-time work when it finishes, but she was unaware of the new One-Parent Family legislation under which she may retain her allowances:

I can either wait for six months and go back on to another CE, or, there's no really other options, cause you get stopped. Once you start working you get stopped your medical card, and your rent allowance. I know a girl it happened to.

Viv feels that the only way she will ever have a house of her own is if she is offered one by a local co-operative housing scheme, which plans to construct new units in the area. She believes that although most of these will be sold to members of the co-operative, a percentage of them will be rented to local residents. At the same time she acknowledges that this may not be a realistic option:

At the moment they're building Co-op houses down here. Well, they're in the plans, a few of them has gone up, and my name is down for them, because I know they'll (the Corporation) only move me into a two-bedroom flat because I have two boys. And I know that Id never get one down here. Its like gold-dust to get a flat. No, there's supposed to be a proportion of them, 10% is supposed to be for renting the only way Id be able to buy, I wouldn't be able to get a mortgage for a start, being a single parent with two kids, and the only way Id be able to get it is the 50-50 with the Corporation. That is the only way I could get it. And I said it to them, if it came out, and I cant see how the corporation would turn me down, but could I rent. But apparently there's 10% of the houses, but like, if they're building twenty houses, what's 10% out of that, you know? Its nothing really, two houses. So, you'd want to be the lucky one just to rent it. So, I live in a fantasy world half the time, I do, about getting this house, there's no even land site for them.

Viv explained how uncomfortable her mother felt about having to attend the Health Centre after the death of Viv's father. She felt that there was not enough privacy, and that neighbours would know that she needed assistance. The system, being so public, took away her dignity:

There is a separate office now, well, actually, there always was, but its when you go into the centre itself, the clinic, everyone just sits there, and I used to hate it. My mother used to get withdrawal symptoms going down after me father died, you know, because she had nothing coming in. She used to be that upset, you know, at the thoughts of her going in and people knowing where she was going. It was very upsetting for her. And there was a few times now, you'd walk in and you'd say, Good Jesus, I know that person, you know. I know everyone has to do it at some stage, but its still, its on your shoulders when you have to go in and sit there, waiting Well the way it is in the clinic in Ringsend, its just anyone who's going in for anything, there's doctors sit, there's dentists, whatever, there's separate chairs for where you're going. So you know that's the welfare officer, that's the baby nurse, that's the doctor, you know, so its not very, in that sense its not very private.

Case Study 4 - Roisin

Roisin is a single parent, living with her daughter in a two-bedroomed house in the East Wall area. She receives a rent allowance to help offset the rent of 100 per week. She is originally from Ringsend where she is currently employed on a CE scheme. She left her family home because of difficulties living there with her child. She now deals with the North Strand clinic, and previously dealt with Ringsend and East Wall clinics.

Roisin noted discrepancies in the manner in which individual CWOs handled her case:

Well, I found North Strand was grand, very helpful The rent allowance in Irishtown, I found the woman very, not very helpful, do you know what I mean? You'd get your rent allowance and I didn't know anything about Back to School or anything like that, and I didn't find her helpful at all. And working here, then, from here, I started here when I was in the flat, and (Employer) told me about all what I was entitled to and all that, so then I kind of knew. And then I moved over to East Wall and I got a house over there Yeah, I found now, over in East Wall, I didn't really like the fella that was over there no, I really didn't like him. I just didn't like going over to him

The Health Board pays her a 50 rent allowance. However, in order to get the rent allowance for this accommodation, she had to pretend to the Health Board that the rent was 85 as the cost of the accommodation would have been considered beyond her means:

No, he did say that, he did say, Were not going to help you with that, its over your limit, 80 is what you should be paying, or whatever, right, that's the most I will pay. So then I did have to go back and I had to say, Its only 80. Do you know what I mean? So I had to cause it was the only way he would have given a rent allowance. Otherwise, he would have told me to find somewhere else . So, they actually think that they're giving you 50 off 80. The health board think that they're helping you to the tune of 50 a week off your 80 a week.

Obviously, paying this extra money eats into the income from her CE scheme and her single parent allowance, and makes it more difficult for her to manage her household budget. Nevertheless, she feels that it is worth this hardship in order to have a decent home for her young daughter:

Now my rent over there is 100 a week, and out of that I have to pay 50, which I find an awful lot, you know. Because I'm on a scheme. Well, they say on a scheme you don't lose any benefits, but you do, you know its an awful lot of money, an awful lot, before you pay your bills, or food my daughters in this creche as well, here, so I have to pay 15 as well here, you know, so by the time you do that and everything, your money does be gone. Me rent in the flat down there (Ringsend), that was 80 and I used to pay 20, they used to pay 60. Then I took a step up higher, 100 a week The most they pay for you in the rent allowance is 60.

She approves of the new system of posting rent allowance cheques to clients, since it saves time and hassle:

Now, the cheques get posted, so its not as bad, you know In the place that I lived in before I never had that, you always had to go down once a month to collect it, but now you just get your form off them and .when they send out your cheque, you get a form off them and your landlord signs it and your job signs it, and you bring it back in. You know, you just leave it in reception and that's it. And then they post it out. So its kind of, it saves a lot of hassle, like, queuing up for hours.

I mean, there was an awful lot of waiting in it, you know, queuing and all that.

Roisin explained the financial difficulties she had:

This (CE scheme) is 80. Well, its 96, but you come out with 84, and me book is 84 as well I walk over and back, but ESB and gas and then a credit union, you know, getting a loan out last Christmas, and all that, you know, so then by the time you pay all that you're left with your food and that's kind of basically it. You cant socialise really, you know.

Roisin had difficulty finding this accommodation

Oh, no, desperate, terrible, terrible trouble I had. Now the place I got in Seville Place was grand. I got that, opened the paper and there it was, got it. And that was only 50 a week I was pregnant when I got it, so I had it then, but it was very small So I heard of this flat going, and so many interviews you had to go for, so many references, it was very hard work to get it. But I got it cause my boyfriend at the time, he said he was working here, there and everywhere, so they kind of accepted us, and we got in From {Name}, then, it was only a one-bedroom flat, it was only small, the baby slept in the room, we were sharing the same room, so I wanted to get her, you know, her own room, so that's why I wanted to go over there. So the cheapest house over there at the time was the hundred pound, and that was very hard to get.

Roisin does not have a rent book, but her rent is recorded on the Eastern Health Board form that the landlord signs. The monthly cheque is made out in the landlords name:

He doesn't sign a rent book, he just signs the form. All it says is just to say that I'm still living there, and me rent is up to date. That's all it says. It doesn't say what the amount is, just that its up to date and that's it, you know Well, he asked, when you go to the relieving officer, they ask, Do you want it in your name or in the landlords? So I just said, Into the landlords, you know.

She found the flat through a friend of hers who used to live there, and who recommended Roisin to the landlord:

It was a friend of mine, she was renting one of his houses before, you know, and he really liked her. She moved out of one of his houses so she recommended me.

Without this recommendation she felt that she would not have been given the house, as her experience before this had been that landlords did not want to rent to people with children.

At one stage, she had lied about the existence of her child in order to get a flat:

Now, I've looked at an awful lot of places and everything would be grand, and they'd like you, and they'd say, Have you any kids? And you'd say, Oh, yeah, just the one. Oh, well, how old? And at the time, one, two, three. No a few places that I've gone, they're not insured for children, and then they say things like, The neighbours, what if the baby is crying during the night? You know, neighbours and things like that.So I actually found it was harder, now. Actually the place we got in Irishtown, I actually said I hadn't got a baby, to the landlord, so that we could kind of get in. And then any time that you see the landlord never knocked or anything, but any time they were doing repairs or anything, I was just kind of minding the baby. But they never asked, you know.

She mentioned that many landlords accept rent allowance tenants as long as the Health Board cheques are not made out in the landlords name. However, she would be reluctant to deceive the social welfare system:

A lot of places don't like rent allowance for tax reasons. They'll tell you that. And then that's it, that's all they'll say, you know. And then, they try to say to you, like the landlord would look and you'd say, Well, I'm getting rent allowance. And he'd say, Get it in your name and cash it. Well have nothing to do with it then, just make up a name or whatever. There's a lot of people that does that, but I wouldn't take the chance, you know.

Roisin experienced a financial problem with the Supplementary Welfare Allowance system, which pays in arrears, although landlords expect rent to be paid in advance:

Well, the thing about my landlord over here, now, the way he works it, right. Its 100 a week but you don't get the rent allowance cheque till the end of the month, or the start of the month. It depends on when you move in, its four weeks from there. And he does say, Roisin, I want me rent, 100 a week, into me account. So I do have to try to get up the 100 pound a week. When I moved in, I paid 200 deposit, and four weeks in advance, 600, right? So I thought me rent was due in another four weeks time, but he said no, when I moved in, he said, Your rent is due next week, so you're always four weeks ahead So I had to pay it from the first week I moved in.

Roisin is happy with her present accommodation and her relationship with her landlord. She has a years lease and the landlord has asked her to renew the lease. He is a responsible landlord, tending to upkeep and repairs:

When I moved in, they knocked down the whole of the inside and redone it, so its fabulous now, it really is, its lovely the way he done it last week they were down cementing the back yard, you know, and things like that.

Roisin had availed of a local information service and was aware that she could return to work and retain some of her entitlements:

It depends on what your earnings are going to be I was told that if I worked full-time, I can get half of me book, and with having half me book and a full weeks wage if I went back working full-time, Id still have me medical card.

With regard to her relationship with her CWO, Roisin found that somewhat problematic. She felt that he lacked understanding of the difficulties a lone parent faces:

I find him very, he just wants you in and out, well, I suppose he has got a queue, and whatever, but I remember actually going in with an ESB bill, and it was for 140, and that was the one before after coming back at me. And I said I cant cope with that. I says, I have a gas bill as well, and I'm up to me eyes. And he says to me, Look, there's nothing I can do. Were giving you rent allowance, what else are you expecting? My answer is no, and if you want to appeal it, here's an appeal form. He was saying, But you're working, what are you doing with your money?

His judgment of Roisin's budgeting skills may have been influenced by the fact that he was unaware of her top-up payment to the landlord.

Case Study 5 - Celine

The following case study was conducted with a woman who sought and found accommodation five years ago, before the current housing crisis developed. It contrasts the situation in the past with the present accommodation crisis.

Celine is a 46 year old woman with four children, one of whom still lives with her. She has been living in private rented accommodation for the past five years. Before that, she lived in a mobile home at the rear of her sisters home, but she felt it was overcrowded and wanted to move out. She was not employed at this time. Her children range in age from 18 to 26, but only her eldest daughter still lives with her. She has two bedrooms, a sitting room, bathroom and kitchen. Her rent was initially 90 per week, but has increased to 100 per week now. Celine no longer receives a rent allowance from the Eastern Health Board, as she now works on the Whole-time Jobs Initiative.

Although Celine has had her name down on the Dublin Corporation Housing List since 1989, she has never been offered accommodation. Now that her children are all over eighteen years of age, she is classed as having no dependants and does not expect an offer in the future.

Five years ago, although Celine was on a Social Welfare payment, she found accommodation easily:

I didn't have any problem getting rent allowance or anything, you know, and the landlord that I have is very pleasant, very easy to get on with I just seen one (an advertisement) in the supermarket I just went about it. No problem I asked him (landlord) would he be interested in getting it (rent) from the clinic, and he said no problem.

Celine went to the clinic first to find out whether she was entitled to a rent allowance. She had to organise her own deposit, although the landlord only requested a two-week deposit:

I went, yeah, and they explained what I was entitled to and all that they didn't give me a deposit, no.

At this time, the rent allowance was paid out monthly. In order to collect it, Celine had to visit the clinic once a month and wait to see the Community Welfare Officer, often for several hours at a time. Celine described waiting in the clinic to collect her rent allowance cheque:

I used to go up there about ten o'clock and Id be there about one o'clock

As soon as she started working on the Whole-time Jobs Initiative, her rent allowance was stopped. The rent also increased around the same time and she must now pay the full amount herself.

Before I started working my rent was 90, and I used to pay about 50 myself, and they used to give me the rest I'm basically working kind of to pay the rent, you know.

If Celine owned her own home or had been accommodated by Dublin Corporation, she would now have security of tenure, which is not the case with private rented accommodation. If her daughter decides to leave home, Celine will have to look for a smaller flat for herself. She would not be able to afford the two-bedroom flat on her own, and anyway feels that it would be too big for just one person. She would not like to have to share with someone. She enquired about rent allowance when she started on the Whole-Time Jobs Initiative, but was told that she would have to move to a smaller flat before the Health Board would assist her. She makes the point that, for her, where she lives is her home, but that this is not recognised by the CWO:

I remember when I started working, I went to the Community Officer and I asked her would she give me something, and like she was very nice about it, she said Well, we could give you 40 a week, but you'd have to move to smaller accommodation. Like they kind of don't realise that you're there five years, and its your home, you know, its not just a flat so I didn't go any further.

Her contract on the Whole-Time Jobs Initiative expires after three years. So at that point, she will have to manage on a Social Welfare Benefit. She will then need to re-apply for rent allowance at which point, she will be required by the regulations to look elsewhere for another flat as her accommodation will be considered too big for her means. She will also then require help with a deposit.

Summary of Main Findings from Case Studies

The main problems reported in the case studies were:

• unwillingness of landlords to accept rent allowance tenants, especially where they have children;
• rents too high in relation to the scales of allowance set by the Eastern Health Board;
• poor quality of accommodation available at permissible rent levels, as defined by the Eastern Health Board;
• problems in securing the deposit without going further into debt;
• rent cheques often paid in arrears, increasing financial strain;
• no security of tenure;
• insecure and unsafe accommodation;
• lack of information about welfare rights in relation to housing;
• no long-term benefit from paying rent because of the lack of a long-term social housing strategy;
• no recognition of the need to have a sliding scale of rent allowance for those people trying to return to the workforce;
• little possibility of saving towards a deposit for house purchase.

Section 6 - Dealing with Tenants' Needs: Perspectives from the Agencies

Findings from the recipients of rent allowance form the core data of this study. But it was also considered important to seek the views of agencies who are directly involved with responding to tenants. A number of roles were thus targeted, ranging from CWOs to landlords to tenants' rights organisations. To adequately capture this multiple focus, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of statutory, voluntary and professional organisations concerned with the issues of housing and homelessness. These included Threshold, Eastern Health Board, Irish Property Owners Association, Focus Ireland and the National Association of Professional Landlords.

We present first the data from the two landlords' associations.

Irish Property Owners Association

The Irish Property Owners Association is the national representative association for those involved in the private rented accommodation industry. It was formed in 1993 with the objective of giving owners, providers and investors in the industry a strong and united voice when dealing with statutory and governmental bodies. The organisation aims to 1) ensure that the concerns of landlords are voiced at all levels of government, both national and local, 2) inform the public of members concerns and 3) provide advisory and support services to members. It has approximately 4,000 subscribers, 45% of whom are based in Dublin.

The IPOA has had ongoing meetings with the Eastern Health Board, and as a result of one of these, the Rent Supplement form was redesigned by the Health Board. Tenants may permit the Health Board to pay the rent allowance directly to the landlord. They have also been discussing the issue of responsibility with the Health Board, as they would like the Board to assume responsibility for damage caused to a property by subsidised tenants.

Fintan McNamara admitted that some landlords are reluctant to accept rent allowance tenants, for a number of reasons. Firstly, difficulties may arise when two groups of people, employed and unemployed, with different lifestyles,

live alongside each other.14 Also, landlords fear that a unit occupied by an unemployed person will deteriorate more quickly, as the person spends more time there. There is also the fear that rent allowance tenants will get into trouble with arrears, because the rent cheque is made payable to the tenant. However, the IPOA distinguished between refugees who are rent allowance tenants and unemployed Irish people. Refugees are perceived by many landlords as being more reliable tenants, since they seem to be better educated, have a work ethic and feel an obligation to pay bills.

The IPOA stated that there is now a shortage of units to rent, especially in Dublin, owing to changes such as new regulations, (fire regulations, minimum standards, compulsory registration), and increased stamp duty from 2% sixteen years ago, to 9% now. In fact, the renovation of a house to meet the requirements can actually devalue it, as it may necessitate the removal of old Georgian doors and ceilings.

A lot of landlords are selling up and moving into other businesses, because the costs of meeting and maintaining standards are prohibitive. Frank Mills, SCWO in the Eastern Health Board, also spoke about the effects of new legislation: when minimum standards are actually enforced some landlords may withdraw from the sector. This could put pressure on local authorities to provide more accommodation and may in the short-term lead to an increase in homelessness. (Mills, 1997:3) The IPOA feels that this country could benefit from more relaxed regulations, as is the case in Britain. Also, there is grant aid available in England for alterations to houses in the private rented sector in order to bring them up to the minimum standards. Tax structures could be put in place in Ireland to encourage landlords to meet the regulations.

Many of the IPOAs subscribers experience problems with their tenants. For example, if a tenant refuses to leave a flat after being served a notice to quit, the landlords only choice is to take the case to court. This procedure may take up to eight months, during which time the tenant stays on, rent-free. Also a tenant may leave while the case is pending, and find other accommodation, where the new landlord does not know his past history.

14 Interestingly, the Review Group on Supplementary Welfare Allowance felt that the converse was the case, and that the scheme could in fact be effective in achieving social integration which is in line with the objectives of current housing policy. (Review Group, 1995:14)

According to the IPOA, the majority of landlords who subscribe to this organisation are registered for tax, and they say that Department of Finance figures suggest that 97% of landlords are making tax returns in their audits.

The IPOA promotes the establishment of a grading structure for properties: standard, superior and luxury. Any sort of a register would have to be established with the consent of landlords, and be run on a self-regulating basis.

National Association of Professional Landlords

The NAPL was set up in March 1996, partly as a response to the legislation introduced by Liz McManus, TD, Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, which requires that all landlords register with the Local Authority. The organisation is concerned with standards in the service, and is very selective about who is allowed to join it. Usually a prospective member is recommended by another member. The majority of their members are not registered with the local authority but are registered with the Revenue Commissioners.

The NAPL is opposed to the issue of compulsory registration, as they feel there is a security risk to landlords. Confidential information regarding names and addresses, amount of rent paid, and number of properties per landlord appear to be available through this system. The NAPL feels that criminals could make use of this information, and families of landlords could be at risk.

A fee of 40 per unit is required by law, although landlords argue that they receive nothing in return for this outlay. The NAPL spokesperson, Ms. Wood, felt that a similar system to that which Bord Failte implements, where registered guesthouses are recommended to tourists, could be established for landlords and their clients. At the moment, the landlords register serves only as a way of complaining about bad practices on the part of landlords, and is also open to abuse. An example given was that of a disgruntled ex-tenant reporting the landlord to the local authorities or Revenue Commissioners. This system of registration needs to have in-built securities for both landlords and tenants.

The NAPL felt strongly that the Eastern Health Board should pay rent allowance directly to landlords, rather than to the tenant. Under the present system, the landlord has little control over this situation. The tenant may choose not to give the cheque directly to the landlord and this may lead to difficulties of arrears building up. In fact, if a tenant insists that that cheque be paid directly to him/her, the CWO has no option but to comply. The reason for this is that the Health Board considers the tenant to be their client and does not have a formal relationship with landlords.

There is no responsibility on the part of the tenant to ensure that the flat remains in good condition. One way to make a tenant feel responsible would be if s/he owned the deposit (i.e. if the tenant paid back the amount of the deposit to the Health Board over a period of time, so that they would be entitled to the deposit from the landlord at the end of the lease). There could be more awareness/education about tenant responsibility.

Some Health Board clinics pay the rent cheques monthly in arrears, (such as Rathmines and Dun Laoghaire). This means that the landlord has to subsidise the tenant for three or four weeks. However, the timeframe for paying rent allowance cheques is at the discretion of individual clinics and CWOs. Some pay weekly cheques, which may suit landlords better.

They explained why some landlords may discriminate against rent allowance tenants and lone parents: landlords generally feel that they are more likely to get paid on time by working people. Also, working tenants tend to result in less wear and tear on the unit. There is also more wear and tear on a flat if the tenant has children. They pointed out that all of the three or four evictions they have had in recent years have involved rent allowance tenants. However, there are advantages to having rent allowance tenants, particularly the fact that the building would generally be occupied, making it more secure.

The NAPL consider that landlords do not have sufficient rights when they rent their property. They cited the example of a landlord having a problem with the way a tenant is treating their property, e.g. creating unhygienic conditions in the unit. In this case, the landlord may not request that the Environmental Health Officer call to inspect a premises. This request can only be made by a tenant.

It is the NAPLs policy to have a mix of working and unemployed people in any one building as they aim to promote social integration rather than to ghettoise people.

There are two separate processes for eviction and rent arrears, which are not dealt with simultaneously. The NAPL believe this to be an unfair and unwieldy system as a separate court case to deal with arrears is both expensive and time consuming. Usually, when landlords take former tenants to court as part of an eviction process, they do not initiate a separate court case for arrears, and hence lose out on arrears of rent.

With regard to the issue of rent allowance tenants attempting to recover their deposits from landlords, the NAPL representatives explained that each of their tenants signs a lease, which stipulates that they must leave the flat clean. If carpets need to be cleaned or replaced, this cost may be deducted from the deposit. There is also an inventory, and the cost of any item broken or damaged may also be deducted. Money owed for heating or ESB bills may also be taken from the deposit.

The NAPLs screening system for prospective tenants is a thorough one, requiring a completed application form and references from two prior landlords.

Rent Allowance tenants are offered the same types of accommodation as working people, but the NAPL would be careful not to offer accommodation to an elderly person in a building that housed many young people.

The NAPLs response to Liz McManuss legislation was to withdraw from the housing market for a period of time, and refuse to take people with Rent Allowance. However, the NAPL no longer practices this policy. Landlords feel that their role in providing housing to people, and taking people off local authority housing lists, is not recognised. The legislation pertaining to registering private rented properties actually made landlords focus on their own demands.

Property prices have increased considerably over the last few years, so that an owner may now obtain up to 100,000 more for a house than s/he would have two years ago. For this reason, it makes sense for many landlords to sell their properties. Many multiple unit buildings (that would have been flats) are now being converted to single unit buildings.

According to Ms. Wood, there are now 2,000 fewer private rented units in the Rathmines area than there were a year and a half ago, as many landlords are selling up. It is difficult to estimate how many units have been sold, but she suggested the possibility of contacting individual estate agents and asking for figures. This could form one part of a follow-up study to this current project investigating the size of the market of lower-priced accommodation now available in the Dublin area.

In response to a question about levels of rent, the NAPL believes that the market dictates the cost of housing. They do not believe that landlords would increase levels of rent if the Health Board increased their ceilings on rent allowance.

However, they would like to see Health Board ceilings increased, as they feel that the Board is unaware of actual levels of rent in today's market. In their experience, many tenants request an under-the-counter system of payment. In other words, if a prospective tenant is anxious to obtain accommodation, s/he may request the landlord to pretend that the unit has a lower rent, and offer to pay the shortfall out of their own pocket. In such cases, a unit may cost more than the approved Health Board rate.

The new legislation stipulates that the register should be available to the public. The NAPL disagree with this, but would be happy to have this information available for private use, for example, by the Eastern Health Board. They feel the landlords personal details should not be available to the general public. They are not prepared to give information that is irrelevant to the standards of accommodation.

The Association noted that relationships between CWOs, landlords and tenants could be improved. They would like to see a three way system of communication. Presently, landlords generally only communicate with Community Welfare Officers when a problem arises.

In order to encourage landlords to stay in the private rented industry, there should be a system of financial incentives to assist them to meet regulations, such as exists in Britain. As it stands here, there is no scheme to help landlords who cannot afford to improve their properties. The NAPL cited the example of high expenditure on compliance with fire regulations, which insist that fire doors must be fitted, kitchens must not block exits (most fires start in the kitchen), and that there must be alternative forms of escape. In Georgian houses, old solid wood doors must be removed and replaced. Smoke alarms must be fitted.

Eastern Health Board

Nigel Nolan, trainer of Community Welfare Officers, explained that housing policy changed about ten years ago. Government policy prevented local authorities from beginning new projects, which resulted in a shortage of housing. Now, the reality is driving the policy, and the SWA scheme has to cope with people who have no other options for housing, but who, years ago, may have been housed by the local authority.

The Health Board is not legally entitled to inspect premises, and they have no statutory involvement with housing. Their involvement is only through the SWA scheme, which was designed as short-term assistance for emergency cases. Mr. Nolan stressed that housing is not the responsibility of the Health Board and that they were only there to cope with the shortfall.

He mentioned that when the new legislation for landlords was introduced, many houses in the NCR area, which is heavily used by private landlords, went on the market and were sold. However, some of the houses may have been sold to other landlords and could still be in the private rented sector. There was a fear that the number of units would decrease because of the legislative changes, and indeed this appears to have been borne out by the increased difficulties experienced by tenants in accessing accommodation. For example, at the time of compiling this report, the EHB are unable to offer accommodation to people sleeping rough, as emergency accommodation has been completely used up. The growth in the number of asylum seekers has also led to a higher demand for housing.

Mr. Nolan felt that the problem with the idea of setting up an accommodation register would be that of keeping it up to date, as a CWO only becomes aware of a vacant premises up to a month after a tenant has left, when the tenant does not turn up to collect a rent cheque. Landlords themselves could set up such a register, but they do not need to at present, due to the fact that demand for housing outweighs the supply. However, Mr. Nolan felt that it could be a good idea to set this up now, as the trend could change in the future.

Sometimes, there are local arrangements between landlords and CWOs, of which the Health Board does not strictly approve, for example, the rent cheque may be paid directly to the landlord without the permission of the tenant. Normally, the rent allowance is paid directly to the tenant unless s/he indicates that it should be paid to the landlord. In larger houses, where there are several units, it is common for one large cheque to be paid by the Health Board to the landlord. Some landlords will accept a tenant only with the proviso that the rent allowance cheque is paid directly to the landlord. It is the Eastern Health Boards policy to pay rent allowance on a four-weekly basis.

The Health Board and the INOU were involved in a joint project, publishing a booklet, on entitlements. However, the Health Board decided to keep a low profile on it and they left the distribution to the INOU, as they felt it would be more acceptable to the public.

Mr. Nolan agreed that there was a discretionary element involved in the distribution of Supplementary Welfare Allowance, and that each case was judged on its own merits, which could be difficult for a client to understand. However, they do have guidelines for the scheme, and the Minister for Social Welfare has initiated their publication.15

The number of asylum seekers has increased the workload of the CWOs, who have been finding it difficult to cope. In two areas, the Superintendent CWOs put a stop to payments from the local clinics to refugees for six weeks, to reduce the workload, and these were centralised in the James Street unit. They will eventually all be paid from the central unit, which has an interpretation service covering most languages.

Regulations permit a person on a rent allowance to get help with a deposit, although not to a total of 100%. This is normally paid to the tenant, but, as in the case of a rent allowance cheque, can be made out to the landlord. Landlords have many reasons for refusing to return a deposit when the tenant is leaving. These include the costs involved in cleaning the flat, potential bills, re-advertising of the flat. According to Mr. Nolan, these are spurious reasons in the main. The Health Board is not legally entitled to request that the landlord return the money. However, in one case a tenant took a landlord to court, but the case was dismissed, the judge ruling that the deposit did not belong to the tenant. The tenant appealed and eventually won his case.

Some tenants who cannot get a rent deposit from the CWO may arrange to pay it to the landlord on a weekly basis on top of the rent. Mr. Nolan pointed out that the CWO should take this payment into account when assessing his clients outgoings.

15 A list of EHB ceilings on rent allowance is included in Appendix III.

Some clinics are more likely to give assistance with a deposit than others, owing to the discretionary element in the system, and this is known to many people looking for rent allowance. Perhaps it is the case that some CWOs cling to the myths of yesteryear and believe that people are trying to cheat the system. Others do not want to get involved in giving deposits, as they feel it will open the floodgates and they will be inundated with requests.

They are currently working on a centralised computer recording system, which will hold all their client records. Over the next twelve months, all clients will be listed on this system.

Some of the problems with the current system arise due to the fact that there is often a shortage of staff in clinics. In fact, several were relying on temporary staff and were closed for some weeks in the summer of 1997. This has led to frustration on the part of clients, who have had to spend much time waiting to be seen. However, a new, specialised housing unit for rent and mortgages has been established in the Summerhill, North Strand, and East Wall areas, covering areas 9 and 15. An officer will be available for rent allowance tenants only at specific times in the local clinics. Anyone wanting rent allowance will not be able to attend the ordinary CWO. Eventually it is hoped to supply this service through the post, which should alleviate the problems associated with attendance at the local health centres.

A major problem with the SWA is that there is no one body that has overall responsibility for it throughout the country. The eight different health boards are self-regulating in this area. It is also the responsibility of three government departments, Environment, Social Welfare and Health. The interdepartmental committee is made up of these three departments, the Health Board and local authorities. They are due to report soon on the question of Rent Allowance.

With regard to revising ceilings for payments, the Health Board conducts an annual survey of new cases presenting, this data being taken from a one week sample. They take into account the size of the family and amount of rent paid. In 1997, the May figures were selected.

However, as the questionnaire conducted as part of this research reveals, 21.50% of respondents are paying an unofficial top-up payment to landlords, of which the Health Board is unaware. This means that the Health Board is using inaccurate rental figures in its annual surveys.

Legally, the total amount of Supplementary Welfare Allowance paid out each year cannot be capped, as there is no set budget for it. Whatever is needed is given out. In fact, payments through the SWA jumped by approximately 10m in one year. In contrast, the budget for Dublin Corporation is limited. Areas 9 and 15, which are in Community Care Area 7, receive about a quarter of the entire Dublin portion of EHB rent supplement. This includes many clinics in the Larkin Centre catchment area. Another area that receives a high proportion of rent supplement is the one which includes Rathmines, Terenure and Pearse Street.

The Health Board does not liaise on a formal basis with landlords, although there tends to be a lot of informal communication between landlords and CWOs.

Specialised Housing Unit

The Eastern Health Board has recently introduced a new system for applying for and receiving rent allowance and assistance with deposits. An information leaflet that outlines the main features of the system has been produced by them. Certain areas of Dublin 3 have been targeted to pilot this system, which operates from a Specialised Housing Unit in the Eastern Health Board offices in Park House.

The following areas are covered by the new specialised housing unit:16

• Amiens Street
• Ballybough
• Clonliffe Road
• East Wall
• North Strand
• The Willows
• Old Ballymun Road
• Botanic Avenue
• Whitworth Road
• Dorset Street
• Blessington Street
• St. Ignatius Road
• Doyles Corner

16 A complete index of streets covered by this unit is available from the Eastern Health Board.

The information leaflet outlines the general procedure when applying for rent supplement or assistance with deposit. An applicant must a) complete a Supplementary Welfare Allowance Application Form and b) have the Landlord complete a Rent Supplement Assessment Form, which requires the name, address, telephone number and signature of landlord. The application is then assessed by a Community Welfare Officer in the Specialised Housing Unit.

An applicant must meet the following criteria before s/he can receive a rent allowance:

1. A person/family must have a need for accommodation;
2. The accommodation secured must be suitable for the persons/family's needs;
3. The rent being charged must be reasonable and a person/family's income has to be determined as not sufficient to enable the claimant to pay the rent.

Similarly, when applying for an Exceptional Needs Payment towards a Rent Deposit, certain criteria must be met:

1. Exceptional circumstances must be established;
2. The claimant must not be in a position to meet the cost of a deposit from his/her own resources;
3. There must be an urgent or unforeseen need for the claimant to secure accommodation;
4. There must be prior consultation with a Community Welfare Officer.

Threshold

Threshold was founded in 1978 as a charitable organisation working with the issues of housing and homelessness. Their services include practical advice, information, education, research and campaigning. The problems associated with housing are not the same now as they were twenty years ago, but Threshold has responded to the changes in policy and tenants needs as they arose, and is one of the foremost agencies in highlighting and tackling the underlying causes of housing problems. Between 1978 and 1992, 50,000 people obtained advice and support from their centres. In 1992, 18% of the total number of callers, or 1,258 people, sought help with finding accommodation. Of these, 78% were looking for private rented accommodation. The high number of callers in this category highlights both the shortage of accommodation and the lack of accessible information on housing options. (Threshold Report, 1992:5) Many of the clients had experienced problems with their landlords, including deposit retention, rent increases, repairs, conditions and a variety of other landlord/tenant disputes. (ibid:5)

Representatives from Threshold discussed the types of issues they encounter. For instance, Community Welfare Officers send people to their organisation to see if they have an accommodation register. The idea of setting up an accommodation register was raised with them, but they pointed out that if such a register was managed by the Eastern Health Board, it would appear as if the Health Board recommended particular landlords. This could be problematic, as the Board would then be perceived to be responsible for the standard of accommodation found.

Both of the Threshold representatives confirmed that, in their experience, landlords do refuse rent allowance tenants, and lone parents in particular often experience discrimination. Threshold feels that a possible reason for this discrimination is that some landlords prefer professional people, and do not place rent allowance tenants into this category. However, the main reason for this prejudice appears to be that unregistered landlords fear there will be communication between Health Boards and the Revenue Commissioners, although there is no evidence of this type of inter-agency communication. In order for a tenant to receive an allowance, they need some sort of rent book, and landlords may be reluctant to have an official record of rental income.

The discretionary powers of Community Welfare Officers was raised, in terms of the amounts of subvention and types of accommodation they allow their clients. It is also discretionary whether or not they request a landlord registration number when they are paying a rent allowance.

Threshold representatives also raised the following points:

• Single people generally do not put their names on the Dublin Corporation housing list, and the Health Board does not recommend that they do so, as lone parents and families receive priority treatment under the system;
• The term Social Housing is now being used in reference to private rented accommodation when subvention is involved;
• Threshold is aware of some landlords who record only the actual cash amount a tenant pays on a rent book. In these cases, the rent allowance cheque is not accounted for as part of the rent;
• They knew of people who paid the landlord an additional amount from their own pockets, over and above the Health Board approved rate. For example, the EHB may tell a tenant that s/he must find accommodation for 40 per week. If the tenant has difficulty finding quality accommodation at this rate, s/he may make a private arrangement with the landlord to pay an additional sum for more suitable accommodation. There are two main problems associated with this under the counter system: firstly, the tenant may get into financial difficulties trying to pay the rent, and secondly, it creates the illusion in the Health Board that there are cheaper flats available than is the case;
• Another problem identified by Threshold was that some accommodation agencies accept a 30 registration fee from people, knowing that the agency will not be able to access suitable accommodation for them;
• A prospective tenant may pay a small deposit, for example, 30, to a landlord to hold a flat while s/he goes to the CWO to request subvention. If the CWO refuses to deal with that particular landlord, in some cases the landlord does not refund the holding deposit;
• There is ambiguity about the Health Boards budget for subvention. According to Threshold, the Board does not state what its ceiling is, or what the criteria are for paying out, or whether they have a weekly or a monthly budget. It was suggested that CWO Superintendents may be under pressure to cut back on subvention payments at certain times of the year, when their budgets are depleted;
• In some cases, people are so desperate to find accommodation that they pretend they are working and/or childless in order to be acceptable to a landlord, who may then serve them with a months notice when s/he finds out the true situation;

See Case Study 4 and Question Number 29 in the Quantitative Data Section for concrete illustrations of this issue. 18 A total of 13% of respondents to the questionnaire stated that they found their current accommodation through an agency. See quantitative data findings for more information. 19 See discussion on similar topic in section on Eastern Health Board. 20 See Case Study Four, Roisin, for an illustration of this point.

1. Hostel accommodation is a new phenomenon in relation to private rented accommodation. In some cases, landlords claim that their buildings are hostels so that they can evade minimum standards and tenants rights, such as a rent book and four weeks notice for leaving. There is one of these in the Dublin 8 district that has 110 apartments, and a similar one in the Dublin 1 area. The Health Board has no choice but to pay subvention to these tenants because of the current housing crisis. Hostels are also exempt from the landlord register, another reason why this redefining of accommodation on offer for rent might appeal to less scrupulous landlords;
2. A problem experienced by some separated men who have joint custody of their children is that the Health Board will not allow them sufficient rent allowance to obtain a two or three bedroom flat. In these cases, although the father is legally entitled to have the children with him for three days per week, if he is unable to afford suitable accommodation for them he will be deprived of his paternal rights. The Health Board will see him as a single person, entitled only to one-bedroom accommodation;
3. The EHB assumes that any man and woman living together are cohabiting, regardless of whether they are a couple. In these cases, the Board will pay only one rent allowance, although same sex couples are rarely refused two individual allowances;
4. Threshold also noted that this current piece of research does not take into account the influx of students into the city in September. Very often they get preference from landlords because they are not rent allowance tenants.

The area of deposits on accommodation is a particularly problematic one for many of Thresholds clients.

Situations which constantly arise include:

• CWOs will give a deposit to people who are homeless, but often will not give a second one when a person is moving flats;
• A tenant cannot give a deposit on a new flat until the first deposit has been returned;
• Tenants have difficulties being reimbursed by landlords for deposits at the end of their lease. This is sometimes because they have not given four weeks notice, in which case the landlord is entitled to keep the deposit. In many cases, landlords simply refuse to return deposits;
• For long-term tenants, deposits lose their value over the years.

In their 1993 report, Threshold made six action pledges on policy, one of which pertained to the private rented sector. The organisation called for local authorities to be properly resourced in order to implement reforms introduced by the government and for further improvements to be made in the area (Threshold, nd:13).

There have been some positive developments in recent years in the private rented sector. In addition to the minimum notice legislation, Threshold highlights that: Landlords may no longer withhold tenants goods in lieu of rent. (Threshold, nd:10)

Focus Ireland

Focus Ireland (formerly Focus Point) was set up in September 1985 following research carried out by Sister Stanislaus Kennedy into homeless women in 1983-84. Through a number of service teams, it runs a comprehensive service for homeless people, including a Flat Finding Service, Childcare, Crisis Counselling, Welfare Rights Information, Youth Centre, Outreach, Coffee Shop, Transitional and Long Term Housing. A Community Settlement service is also provided for families and individuals who have secured accommodation so as to enable them to settle in the community. Focus Ireland also undertakes research into all aspects of homelessness and conducts public awareness and education programmes.

The Focus Ireland Crisis and Open Access service refers clients in need of accommodation to the Homeless Unit, Charles Street, or directly to hostels that are run by the Health Board and other voluntary and religious organisations. Representatives of Focus Ireland explained that hostel dwellers are entitled to an SWA payment towards housing. People usually have to have an address in order to claim this benefit, but, in some cases, they can use the hostel address.

There is good liaison between Focus Ireland and Charles Street Health Centre, which is the Eastern Health Board centre for dealing with homeless people. Focus Irelands impression of Community Welfare Officers is that they are generally understanding and that they work well with limited resources and within their guidelines. Charles Street Health Centre encourages people to find proper accommodation and not to stay in a hostel for long.

Focus Ireland is aware that some landlords have begun to register properties as hostels rather than private rented units in order to evade minimum standards and other regulations (e.g. notice to quit). The traditional use of hostel accommodation was by tourists and temporary dwellers, but some units are now being let on a longer term basis.

Homeless people are doubly disadvantaged because their financial resources are drained and they face greater difficulty and delays in getting a deposit together in order to secure private rented accommodation. This can affect their ability to secure such accommodation quickly. Other prospective private rented tenants may have a deposit from a previous flat. Homeless people do not generally have the same network of family or friends to provide backup support as settled people have. In order to prevent discrimination against their clients, Focus Irelands Flat-Finding service does not identify them as homeless people when making enquiries on their behalf.

In the experience of Focus Ireland, the prejudices some landlords may have are not always verbalised. The main prejudices that landlords have towards homeless people seeking accommodation are based on the fact that they are either on a rent allowance or that they have children. Some landlords complain that rent allowance tenants cause more wear and tear on the dwelling, but as Focus Ireland points out, the rent paid includes a portion for normal wear and tear, and also, once the rent is paid it entitles the tenant to treat the house as home. In other words, a person is entitled to be in that home for 24 hours a day.

Focus Ireland expressed a concern that as the private rented sector contracts, rents are increasing and landlords are becoming more selective about the tenants they accept. Real rents have increased more quickly than Health Board Supplementary Welfare Allowance ceilings. The most marginalised people will be forced to accept the worst conditions, at the lower end of the scale.

Focus Ireland feels that the minimum standards should be enforced on a more consistent and vigorous basis. It was mentioned that Local Authorities will have to comply with the new regulations in 1998.

Focus Ireland was of the view that an accommodation register should in some ways help the situation, although the rate of landlord compliance with the current registration process is very low. At the moment, while a landlord is obliged to register, he or she does not have to prove compliance with the minimum standards in order to be registered.

Focus Ireland sees the development of social housing as the way forward. This would be more cost-effective for the State, for example, converting old buildings into units for transitional and long term housing. Focus Ireland stresses the need for State support for proper social and public housing measures throughout the State.

Focus Ireland is also increasingly concerned with the problems facing asylum seekers, who encounter more difficulties than Irish people when it comes to rent allowance and accessing accommodation. Even if they come to Ireland as a family, they are not eligible for Local Authority Housing until refugee status is granted. Landlords have shown prejudice against foreigners and sometimes give an immediate negative response to requests for housing. Asylum seekers may have to stay longer in emergency accommodation and therefore cannot become part of the community. They are generally housed in hostels not used for housing Irish nationals, while they are awaiting more permanent accommodation. Many asylum seekers tend to be housed in the same areas, thus ghettoising them. Others are housed in B & B accommodation. St. James's Hospital is now the headquarters for the sector of the Eastern Health Board dealing with asylum seekers.

An indication of the level of need can be ascertained from the following data supplied by the Focus Ireland Flat-Finding Service. In the period January to September 1997 a total of 1139 individuals utilised the service on 2305 occasions. Of the total of 1139 individuals, 1096 were reliant on Supplementary Welfare Rent Allowance in order to access private rented accommodation while 597(52%) were asylum seekers who were seeking such accommodation.

Summary of Main Findings from Agency Interviews

Landlords Perspective

Landlords argue that they confront a difficult situation trying to deal with rent allowance tenants. They have fears about the condition of their properties, fears about the unreliability of tenants in paying rent, and fears that landlords have no rights compared with tenants. So, for example, they prefer having rent cheques made out directly to them. They argue that registration of landlords has not benefited them at all. They would welcome an increase in the ceilings set by the Eastern Health Board on rent allowances and state that they would not raise their rents as a result of such a move. They suggest some sort of licensing system for landlords, whereby their accommodation could be recommended by the Health Board, in a similar way to Bord Failte approving holiday accommodation. Finally, they argue that there are now far fewer private rented units available than there were two years ago, citing for example a reduction of 2,000 in the Rathmines area alone, because landlords are selling out their interests.

Eastern Health Boards Perspective

The Eastern Health Board is aware of problems with its current system, such as the discretionary element, but is taking a number of steps to improve the overall service. The Board has piloted a new postal system for applying for and receiving rent allowance in the Dublin 3 area, which they hope will benefit both clients and Health Board staff by cutting down on time spent queuing. All applications are assessed at a centralised unit before being returned to the applicant. The Board is also in the process of entering all clients details on a computerised database, which will be accessible from any Health Centre. The main problem they identified with an accommodation register would be the difficulty in keeping it up-to-date, since Community Welfare Officers are only aware of a vacant property up to four weeks after the tenant has left, because rent allowance cheques are paid in arrears. By this time, any landlord would undoubtedly have leased the unit to another tenant.

The main flaw in their system of assessment, as highlighted by this study, is the mismatch between Health Board ceilings on reasonable rent and the actual rents that are being charged in today's Dublin market. The Board argues that their annual review of rent levels enables them to continually adjust their ceilings. But as we have already pointed out, 21.5 per cent of the respondents interviewed in this project are paying an unofficial top-up to their official rent. The problem with this method of estimating the ceilings is that it is based on inaccurate data, as many tenants are afraid to reveal the full amount of rent, knowing that it is beyond the Health Board ceiling and that they would be refused a rent allowance for that accommodation. A further problem with these ceilings is their failure to take into account the shrinking number of units available and the competition on places which drives people to renting above their income capacity in an effort to gain any decent housing at all.

Tenant Advocacy Groups Perspective

The two advocacy agencies for those with housing problems and those facing homelessness, Threshold and Focus, present yet another perspective. Acutely aware that what is vital are long-term measures for people who are vulnerable in the open market, they strongly urge the extensive and widespread development of social housing both for short-term, interim accommodation and long-term tenants requiring a home for life. Both groups reported problems of discrimination against rent allowance tenants and lone parents. The issue of deposit retention by landlords was also one which frequently emerged in dealings with their clients. They also cited a recent trend of landlords registering private rented units as hostel accommodation in order to evade minimum standards legislation.

Section 7 - Analysis, Recommendations and Conclusions

Summary recommendations

1. Introduce standardised tenant lease agreements;
2. Urgently revise Eastern Health Board rent ceilings, using a survey of estate agents;
3. Pay Health Board rent allowance cheques in advance, rather than arrears;
4. Develop the existing register of landlords and enforce the penalty system;
5. Invite landlord organisations to survey their members to establish the feasibility of an accommodation register;
6. Establish Private Rented Housing Unit within Dublin Corporation to oversee standards in the private rented sector;
7. Scale down rent allowance payments gradually for people returning to employment;
8. Greatly increase the number of local authority housing units, both through building new units and purchasing private dwellings;
9. Promote and support community-based Social Housing initiatives.

Dillon and O'brien wrote The Forgotten Sector in 1982, in which they outlined the extent of problems in the private rented sector. Since then, some progress has been made in terms of legislation on rent books, which are now mandatory (78% of respondents in this study reported having a rent book).

The law has been amended to abolish distress, so that landlords cannot seize tenants goods to enforce payment of rent. Regulations for one months notice to quit have also been introduced and there are now legally binding standards of accommodation, which also pertain to sanitary facilities (Department of the Environment, 1995:35).

However, despite these legislative changes, there continue to be serious omissions that result in tenants living in vulnerable situations. These omissions need to be addressed. For example, the data highlights the problem area of deposit retention by landlords.

Lease Agreement and Deposit Retention

Many tenants are unsure of their rights when it comes to reclaiming a deposit at the end of a tenancy. Landlords may retain deposits for a variety of reasons, for example, unpaid bills or damage to property. However, some retain them for general wear and tear on the unit, and even for cleaning of the dwelling, although these costs should be included in the rent. There is also ambiguity with regard to ownership of deposits that were part-subsidised by the Health Board. Under the law, the tenant does not own this deposit and it should revert to the Health Board at the end of a tenancy. However, the Health Board does not actively seek the return of a deposit, which leaves the onus on the tenant to retrieve the money.

The data also reveals that the majority of the participants, fifty-eight per cent, did not have a lease on their housing unit. This means that important features such as the length of time a tenant may stay in a property and an inventory of items of furnishing, etc., are absent. The importance of security of tenure cannot be overestimated. Several reasons outside the control of the tenants were listed for them being given notice to quit: in three cases, the property was sold, and in another the tenant was asked to leave because renovations were taking place. Had these tenants had a standardised twelve-month agreement, it would have offered them security of tenure for a set period of time, and they would have had more time to make alternative arrangements.

In contrast to the situation in the private rented sphere, those fortunate enough to have been housed by Dublin Corporation have a home for life, generally speaking.

The lack of a formal lease also leads to other problems for tenants, particularly in relation to privacy. Case Study 1 shows that, without a lease agreement, there are no guidelines regarding when and under what circumstances a landlord may enter a rented unit. In this example, Ciara described how her previous landlord was able to access the property as he pleased, without giving her prior notice.

The introduction of a standardised lease agreement would strengthen both landlord and tenant rights, by clarifying the conditions of tenancy and obligations of each party.

Recommendation 1: Legislation for standardised tenant lease agreement, including regulations for return of deposit should be introduced. As of yet, no regulations with regard to lease or deposit have been implemented.

Calculation of Health Board Ceiling

There is now a huge discrepancy between what the Eastern Health Board considers maximum levels of reasonable rent and the actual rents that are being charged by landlords. An example of this is that the Health Board ceiling for a single person is 40 per week, but this study reveals that there are few units available for this amount. Of those that were available for this price, quality was extremely poor, in shared accommodation, often without self-contained kitchen, bathroom or toilet facilities.

The Eastern Health Board reviews rent ceilings once a year, but there is a problem with these reviews, since they are based on information supplied to them by tenants, which is not always accurate. Many tenants do not disclose the actual rent being charged for fear of being refused the allowance. Instead, they arrange to pay an unofficial top-up sum to landlords in order for them to qualify under the Health Board criteria. See Section 4 of this report, where 21 per cent of those who responded to this question admitted to concealing the actual rent amount from the Community Welfare Officer.

As house prices have risen in the Greater Dublin area, and with the introduction of minimum standards regulations which require expenditure on property by landlords, prices for private rented accommodation have soared. Yet the Health Board ceilings have not responded quickly enough to this change. In order to access a rent allowance, low income tenants must find the poorest quality accommodation at the lowest possible cost. As mentioned, the alternative is to employ the top-up method of payment, which puts a great financial strain on them. (See Case Study 4, where Roisin speaks about paying an additional 20 a week as a top-up payment to her landlord, in order to avail of adequate accommodation for herself and her daughter.)

It is important to remember that low income tenants include many single-parent families, who are also restricted to low-quality accommodation, as in Case Study 1, where Ciara shared a one-bedroom flat with her daughter, with only access to a shared bathroom. The data findings show a strong reliance of single parent families on this type of accommodation. Other vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and the disabled especially, need secure, good quality housing.

Recommendation 2: The Eastern Health Board needs to urgently revise its ceilings for rent allowance, in line with actual housing prices. A survey of estate agents would be a more accurate indicator of rental prices, rather than tenant survey. The Board also needs to develop a long-term strategy in co-operation with Dublin Corporation (who may be assigned responsibility for the rent allowance scheme in the near future) and other interested bodies, in order to cope with the increasing demand for housing and rising property prices.

Method of paying rent allowance

The current Health Board system of paying rent allowance cheques in arrears is unsatisfactory. Most landlords request that tenants pay rent in advance. In order to meet this requirement, many tenants resort to borrowing, which puts them under great financial strain. This could be addressed by paying rent cheques in advance.

A further benefit of paying rent allowance in advance is that that it would facilitate keeping an accommodation register up-to-date. A Community Welfare Officer would have prior notice of a Tenants departure from a unit, and these details could be entered on the register.

Recommendation 3: The Eastern Health Board should change their method of payment of rent allowance cheques from that of in arrears to in advance.

Registration of Landlords

In 1982 Dillon and O'brien asked that a complete register of all private dwellings be maintained by local authorities and that all landlords should be obliged to complete this register. This finally became policy in 1995, but there are problems with the system. In the first place, there are many exceptions to the rule, so that certain landlords are not obliged to register. This pertains if, for example, a landlord is living in the building, or if the building is termed a hostel, a term normally associated with short-term, holiday-type accommodation, but which is increasingly used to describe bedsit-type accommodation used by long-term tenants.

Although the penalty for not registering as a landlord with the local authority can be anything up to one thousand pounds, this is generally not enforced.22 (Personal Communication, Threshold, November 1997)

Recommendation 4: Develop the existing register of landlords and enforce the penalty system for not registering.

Accommodation Register

The idea of setting up an accommodation register was mooted by Robbert Lynch, Information Officer in the Larkin Unemployed Centre. Other agencies felt that a register of some form would be beneficial. However, there could be a number of difficulties associated with such a register. For example, Threshold felt that if a register was managed by the Eastern Health Board, it would appear as if the Health Board recommended particular landlords. This could be problematic, as the Board would then be perceived to be responsible for the standard of accommodation found. On the other hand, it is arguable that whatever body funds rent allowance should also be responsible for overseeing standards of accommodation and other problems arising in the sector.

22 In a personal communication with a Threshold representative, researchers were told that a court case is pending in which a landlord claims that the registration system is

Another point raised by agencies, including the Health Board, was that it could prove impossible to keep a register up-to-date, owing to the way rent allowance works as a payment in arrears. Effectively, the Health Board may not be aware that a tenant has vacated a property for up to four weeks after the event, when s/he does not present to collect a rent allowance cheque. (The study has addressed this problem in Recommendation 4, above)

Landlords themselves could set up such a register, but it is of no benefit to them to do this at present, due to the fact that demand for housing outweighs the supply. However, the Health Board representative interviewed for this study felt that it could be a good idea to set this up now, as the trend could change in the future. The IPOA promotes the establishment of a grading structure for properties: standard, superior and luxury. The best scenario for setting up a register would be for it to be established and managed by a Landlord organisation.

Recommendation 5: The National Association of Professional Landlords and the Irish Property Owners Association should be invited to survey their members to establish levels of interest in an accommodation register and the feasibility of setting this up.

Cessation of Welfare Benefits on Return to Work

Case Study 1 provides an example of a frequent occurrence: an unemployed woman had to refuse a position on the Whole-time Jobs Initiative because it would have entailed losing her rent allowance and other benefits. In other words, accepting this employment position would have left her financially worse off due in particular to the high cost of rent. She settled for a CE scheme, which allowed her to retain her secondary benefits, including Rent Allowance, even though she would prefer to be in full-time employment.

A more sensible way of assisting people who return to work after a period of unemployment would be to reduce the amount of secondary benefits paid on a gradual basis. This scaling down of payments would allow people to cope with their new circumstances, as well as offering more of an incentive to find employment. It would also decrease dependency on Social Welfare and help people to gradually become self-reliant. Such a scheme could be piloted on the Whole-time Jobs Initiative and eventually expanded to all people returning to full-time work after a certain period of unemployment.

Although the Revenue Commissioners allow tax relief on rent for individuals in private rented accommodation, it is not enough to facilitate those returning to work after a period of unemployment. The maximum relief allowed to a single person (under 55 years of age) is 500, and the maximum for a married couple is 1,000. Over the age of 55, 1,000 relief is allowed for a single person and 2,000 for a married couple.

Recommendation 6: Introduce a system of scaling down rent allowance payments gradually for people returning to employment, piloting the scheme on the Whole-time Jobs Initiative. Increase tax relief for those renting in the private sector.

The Department of the Environment recognises that there will always be a need for a private rented sector: It is essential to have a proportion of the housing stock available for renting to cater for those who cannot afford, or do not wish, to purchase and to meet temporary and transitional needs. (1995:35) However, this sector is not at present monitored closely to ensure that the accommodation it offers is of good quality, nor is there an organisation whose specific aim is to support social housing initiatives.

Recommendation 7: Establish a Housing Unit within Dublin Corporation with responsibility for standards, facilitating access to accommodation and supporting social housing initiatives (housing co-operatives).

During the 1980s, there was a dramatic decrease in the numbers of local authority houses being built, one of the factors which led to the over-reliance on private rented accommodation in the mid-1990s. In 1984, 7,002 houses were completed, dropping to a total of 768 completions in 1989. Although the number of new starts/acquisitions has increased in the 1990s, (from 1300 in 1992 to 3,300 in 1994), these figures are in no way comparable to the numbers of families in private rented accommodation who are waiting to be housed.

Recommendation 8: Dublin Corporation should upgrade its building and acquisition programme as a matter of urgency, in order to take people out of the private rented sector and give them security of tenure.

Social Housing Schemes

The total figure for expenditure on rent allowances during 1994 was 43 million, allocated to approximately 30,000 household units. This money goes to landlords of private rented accommodation, but some of it could surely be used more wisely to support Social Housing schemes such as co-operative housing initiatives. The Corporation has reduced its public housing programme in recent years but has not developed its social housing policy significantly to compensate. This is one reason why the private rented sector has come under so much pressure.

There are currently about 10,000 rental dwellings in the non-profit, cooperative or social housing sector, compared with 97,000 in local authority control. An example of successful provision of social housing, backed by, amongst others, the Dublin Inner City Partnership, is the Ringsend Housing Initiative, which in 1994 provided seventeen low cost housing units for sale to local people. The Initiative was a response to a reduction in local authority building in the 1980s and the increase in overall property prices in the area as a result of private housing developments. The project had numerous benefits, offering affordable accommodation to local people, reducing dependency on social welfare and providing homes for life (McKeown, 1994). Local Ringsend people were able to avail of housing within their own area rather than having to seek accommodation in an unknown neighbourhood. The Project has brought owner occupation within the reach of families, most of whom could not otherwise have realistically aspired to this status. Only two residents were previous owner occupiers (McKeown, 1994:18).

It also resulted in the vacant possession of five Corporation flats in Ringsend, and removed a further five families from the housing list (McKeown,1994:19). A benefit for the entire Ringsend community was the conversion of a previously derelict site to a street of quality homes.

Recommendation 9: The Government needs to invest in and support social housing options, such as co-operative housing programmes and community-led building projects.

Conclusion

It is the case that, for low income tenants, both those who cannot afford to take on a mortgage and those who do not qualify for local authority housing, the housing scene in the Greater Dublin area is in the control of private landlords and Community Welfare Officers. Both these groups can and do exercise an amount of control, by means of their discretionary powers, over who may access private housing and the standard of this housing. The only power of discretion a potential tenant may have is to refuse to live in private rented accommodation that is unsuitable for that tenant. However, because of the number of private landlords who have retired from the business and the ensuing lack of good quality accommodation, many people looking for housing must resort to accepting poor quality, badly run-down accommodation.

It suits Dublin Corporation to have private landlords within the system, as it relieves the pressure on the Corporation to build houses and flats for would-be tenants. Indeed, it could be argued that there is no housing crisis now because of the way the private rented sector is absorbing the problem for the Corporation. In this respect the Corporation mirrors the trend in almost all European governments to deal with housing by moving towards more targeted personal subsidies and by relying more heavily on market solutions. The difficulty with this strategy is that it leaves households without true choice and, in that sense, is not tenure-neutral in stance (Balchin, 1996). In order to provide real choice between different tenures, the situation in Dublin would require that the sharp reduction in the available stock of social housing is reversed.

There will always be a need for private landlords, as there will always be people who prefer to rent rather than to own their own homes. Therefore there is a great need for further legislation to safeguard the rights of tenants. This must be seriously pursued by the authorities. At the moment, landlords are not being taken to court for breaches of the law: penalties for not registering are not enforced. But there must also be a concerted effort to replace the private landlord with social housing, including local authority housing, for those who want a home for life. In this way, tenants will have fixity of tenure, as opposed to being subject to a private individual who is, of necessity, influenced and driven by market forces. Both Social and Public Housing Programmes must embark on a long-term journey of building in the inner city and environs again. Otherwise the situation will worsen and more people who, several years ago, could have relied for their housing needs on the local authority, will be caught up in the cycle of poor quality, cramped, expensive private accommodation.

Suggestions for Further Research

There are many people, including lone parents, living in accommodation with shared bathroom facilities, which raises questions about standards of hygiene, especially where children are involved. Landlord associations suggest a grading scale for accommodation. Another suggestion would be for the Health Board to refuse to pay rent allowance on poor quality premises (i.e. assign a minimum grade to each property). However, the attitude of the Health Board understandably seems to be that any accommodation is better than none, and is reluctant to take action on the issue of accommodation standards. The area would benefit from further research.

Due to the Health Board regulations on over-accommodation, the following possible scenario may arise. For example, a single parent rearing children in private rented accommodation may be considered by the Eastern Health Board as being over-accommodated as her children leave home. As a result, she may have to move into a smaller unit. In other words, she is forced to leave her home of many years and has to begin again in an equally insecure setting. This issue could be addressed in a separate project.

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Appendix I

Appendix II

EHB Maximum Levels of Rent

Eastern Health Board maximum levels of rent considered reasonable, operative from 1/1/97.

Appendix III

Copy of Questionnaire

This questionnaire is totally confidential. It will take approximately ten minutes to fill in.

Anyone who has been granted a rent allowance in the last three years is invited to complete this questionnaire.

We are conducting this research on behalf of the Dublin Inner City Partnership in order to discover what experiences rent allowance tenants have in finding adequate rented accommodation.

The aim of the survey is to present findings on problems people may have to relevant statutory agencies and to then consider setting up a register of rented accommodation in the Inner City areas.

Personal Details

1) Gender Male Female

2) Age 15-19 20-24 25-29

30-34 35-39 40-44 44+

3) Currently are you: living alone with child/ren

• with partner with parent/s
• with other family member/s sharing with non-family member

3a) If you are living with child/ren, please give details of each child:

4) Education

• Left school before Junior/Intermediate Cert. Have Junior or Intermediate Certificate
• Left school before Leaving Certificate Have Leaving Certificate
• Post-Leaving Course FÁS Course
• Other Government Training Course Community-run course Have Third Level Certificate Diploma Degree

5) Name of Area and Postal District where you currently reside (for example, Marino, D. 3) Area ________________ Postal District ______

6) Current Employment Status

• Working full-time Working part-time Unpaid work in the home
• CE Scheme Other Government Training Scheme
• Unemployed Whole-time Job Initiative

7) If currently in receipt of Social Welfare payment, please tick appropriate category:

Assistance

• Unemployment Assistance One Parent Family Payment
• Deserted Wife's Allowance Prisoner's Wife's Allowance
• Widow's Pension - non-contributory Old Age Pension - non- contributory
• Carer's Allowance

Benefit

• Unemployment Benefit Disability Benefit
• Old Age Pension- Contributory Survivor's Pension and Deserted Wife's Benefit
• Supplementary Welfare Allowance CE or Other Government Training Scheme
• Returning to Education/VTOS Payment Other - please specify

Accommodation

8) How long have you lived in your present accommodation?

• Less than 3 months 3-5 months
• 6 months to 1 year 13 months to 18 months
• 19 months to 2 years Longer than 2 years

9) What is the size of your current accommodation?

• bed-sit with s/c shower/bath/ toilet
• bed-sit with access to shower/toilet
• 1 bedroom flat with s/c kitchen; s/c shower/bath/ toilet
• 1 bedroom flat with access to kitchen/ shower/bath/toilet
• 2 bedroom flat with s/c kitchen; s/c shower/bath/ toilet
• 2 bedroom flat with access to kitchen/ shower/bath/toilet
• sharing house with own bedroom and access to access to kitchen/shower/bath/toilet
• two-bedroom house
• three-bedroom house
• other- please specify _______________________

10) How did you find your present accommodation? CWO/Health Board Newspaper Advertisement Friend/Family/Neighbour

• Shop notice
• Agency
• Landlord
• Other (please specify) ______________________________________________

11) How long were you looking for this accommodation? ___________

12) How many enquiries (telephone or in person) did you make before you were successful?

1-5 6-10 11-20 More than 20

13) Were you ever refused accommodation by a landlord because you are in receipt of rent allowance? Yes No If yes, how many times? ____________

14) Were you ever refused accommodation by a landlord because you are a Lone Parent?

Yes No If yes, how many times? ____________

15) For couples, were you ever refused accommodation by a landlord because you have a child/children? Yes No If yes, how many times? ____________

16) Have you ever refused private accommodation that was offered to you? Yes No 16a) If yes, why did you refuse?

• Not large enough
• Undesirable neighbourhood
• Unsafe
• Unsanitary
• Did not like it

17) Are you on the Dublin Corporation housing list? Yes No

17a) If yes, for how many years? _______

18) Have you been offered Dublin Corporation accommodation? Yes No

18a) If yes, how many times? _______

18b) Why did you refuse it?

• Too small
• Undesirable area
• Not where I wanted to go
• Other (please state) ___________

Conditions of Tenancy:

19) Have you signed a lease? Yes No 20) Do you have a rent book? Yes No

21) Are you able to secure your accommodation with lock and key? Yes No

22) Does your landlord have a key to your personal living quarters? Yes No

Don't know

23) What is your current rent? ________ per month or ________ per week

24) What does your rent include?

• rental only
• payment to landlord for ESB
• payment to landlord for heat
• payment to landlord for any other facility - please specify (for example use of washing machine) ________________

25) How much is your current rent allowance? _________ per month or ________ per week

26) How much rent do you pay per week on top of your rent allowance cheque? ___________

27) Did you get assistance with the deposit from the CWO? Yes No

28) Did you carry over the deposit from your last accommodation? Yes No

29) Do you pay your landlord a top-up payment in addition to your rent? Yes No

30) How long did you live in your last accommodation?

• Less than 3 months 3-5 months
• 6 months to 1 year 13 months to 18 months
• 19 months to 2 years Longer than 2 years Long-term (family home)

31) Did you have a rent allowance for your previous accommodation? Yes No

32) Reason for leaving previous accommodation:

• Work-related matters (for example, moving closer to work)
• Personal or family-related matters (for example, moving closer to parents or childminder)
• Inadequate, unsafe or unsatisfactory standard of accommodation
• Unsound physical accommodation - for example damp or unsafe for children (stairs, etc.)
• Unsanitary
• Undesirable area or neighbours
• Not large enough
• Difficulty with landlord
• Family difficulties
• Other ___________________

33) Has your application for rent allowance ever been refused? Yes No

33a) If yes, what were the grounds for refusal?

• Health Board does not subsidise that property for health and safety reasons
• Health Board does not subsidise that Landlord
• Accommodation too large for family unit
• Accommodation considered living beyond means for applicant's level of income

34) Did your Community Welfare Officer inform you what the maximum amount payable to you was? Yes No

35) Did your Community Welfare Officer inform you that there was an exceptional needs payment towards a deposit or rent? Yes No

36) Were you offered a copy of the INOU booklet, Everything you need to know about Supplementary Welfare Benefits? Yes No

37) In general, do you find your Community Welfare Officer to be:

Very helpful Helpful Not very helpful Unhelpful

38) Do you feel that there is enough privacy in the Health Centre to allow you to talk to your CWO about your personal situation? Yes No

Appendix IV

Sample of Newspaper Advertisements

• Fairview D.3. off the North Strand, newly decorated single lux flat, c.h., own shower/w.c., suit working single person only. Rent 53 p.w. Phone 855-XXXX
• East Wall D.3. single room suit single person, no lone parents. Phone 836XXXX
• Ballybough. 2-bedroomed flat suit family or working single parent or persons sharing. No EHB. Call to XXXXXXXX between 6.30 p.m. 9p.m.
• N.C.R. Dublin 7. Secure one bedroomed basement flat with all mod cons. Quiet, comfortable area. No social welfare or lone parents. Phone: 087-XXXXXXX

Acknowledgements

The research team would like to sincerely thank the following for their assistance and co-operation with this project:

• Fergal Black, Eastern Health Board
• Marie Creegan, Ringsend Community Centre
• Yvonne Curtin, SICCDA
• John Farrelly, Focus Ireland
• Brid Ingoldsby, The Larkin Unemployed Centre
• Majella McAuley, Citizens Information Centre, O'Connell Street
• Denis McKenna, Sandymount Community Services
• Fintan McNamara, Irish Property Owners Association
• Ciara Murray, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed
• Nigel Nolan, Eastern Health Board
• Paul OHalloran, Citizens Information Centre, Beresford Street
• Anna Quigley, (formerly DICP)
• Frank Shaughnessy, Threshold
• Maria Tyrrell, Larkin Unemployed Centre
• Barbara Wood, National Association of Professional Landlords

Thanks also to all those who generously gave their time to participate in the questionnaires and case studies

A research study conducted on behalf of The Larkin Unemployed Centre, 57-58 North Strand Road, Dublin 3.

by Isis Research & Robbert Lynch

Consultant Dr. Jo Murphy-Lawless Centre for Women's Studies Trinity College Dublin

January 1998

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