Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 October 2025
216. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to advise if social housing rents, including HAP differential rents, are based on a household's gross or net income; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54311/25]
View answerLocal authorities set and collect rents on their dwellings in accordance with section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. The making or amending of such rent schemes is generally a matter for local authorities within broad principles set out by my Department, including that rent levels should be based on income and reflect tenants’ ability to pay.
Local discretion and flexibility are inherent in the devolved administration of rent schemes and different approaches are taken to rent setting across local authorities. Accordingly, decisions regarding the types of income included and disregarded for rent assessment purposes, including statutory deductions, are matters solely for individual local authorities. I have no role in this regard.
In the case of income that assessable for the purposes of determining eligibility for social housing support, including HAP, the Household Means Policy (HMP) which is available online here https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/social-housing-support-household-means-policy.pdf sets out the manner by which all local authorities should assess the means of an applicant for social housing support. The Policy is provided for under Regulation 17 of the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 and determines that net income for social housing assessment is defined as gross household income less income tax, PRSI, Universal Social Charge and Additional Superannuation Contribution. The Policy provides for a range of income disregards, and local authorities also have discretion to decide to disregard income that is temporary, short-term or once-off in nature.
The determination of whether an applicant household meets the income criteria is based on a calculation of their preceding 12 months’ net average income prior to the date of receipt of application. This ensures that the most comprehensive picture of a household’s current and previous income is available at the point of carrying out the assessment. An illustrative table of the current net income limits can be found on my Departments website: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/publications/social-housing-support-table-of-income-limits/.
