Dublin Bay South Labour reps say social tenants are being left to tackle discrimination alone

Labour Leader and TD for Dublin Bay South Ivana Bacik and Pembroke Councillor Dermot Lacey have criticised Dublin City Council and the Government for failing to defend the rights of social housing tenants who live in private developments and are being treated poorly by their management company. Dublin City Council has not substantially responded to reports that the tenants are being excluded from fire drills and access to shared spaces, while the Government insists that the matter is solely the responsibility of the local authority.

Responding, Councillor Lacey said,

“I have been supporting residents of Eglinton Place in Donnybrook who are fighting for fair treatment by their management company. Those tenants, who are what is known as ‘Part V’ tenants, are Council tenants living in a property that is otherwise rented or owned privately. They have told me that they are completely barred from using the building's communal facilities, such as the resident gym, because they are not private tenants. Those residents have offered to pay a fee to make use of what should be communal facilities but they have been refused.

“Given the failure to build adequate amounts of social housing by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, we now see a situation where this form of tenancy is widespread in Dublin. As such, there is a large number of people being excluded from standard, basic amenities. I have heard cases of social tenants being excluded from fire drills and other necessary safety exercises. Dublin City Council’s official policy is that social tenants should not be excluded from communal amenities. The Council expects management companies to facilitate pay-to-access arrangements for DCC tenants so that everyone in the building is treated equally. Where this is not happening, we need to see more proactive engagement and tougher enforcement from the Council. This form of discrimination is disgusting and we in Labour will do all we can to fight against it.

Deputy Bacik said,

“I have brought the plight of social tenants in private developments to the attention of the Minister for Housing. In a parliamentary question reply to me, he placed all responsibility back on Dublin City Council and reframed the issue as a cost-benefit analysis for local authorities. In my view, he has missed the point. If tenants are being refused access to services, where they are willing to pay privately for them, clearly it is discrimination that is driving individual policies, and not financial considerations. Dublin City Council, as a landlord, must take responsibility for ensuring that its tenants are not being mistreated by a third party.

“While I am hopeful that we will ultimately find a resolution at Eglinton Place, this all speaks to a broader issue within the Department of Housing: social tenants are treated as an afterthought. We have seen it in the announcement last week that the Government would phase out so-called “turnkey acquisitions” for social housing, or the purchasing of privately-built housing units for renting out to those on the housing list.

“While it is welcome that we would see this economically-foolish policy phased out, it is not clear that the Minister’s plans include direct state-led construction to fill the gap. Without resourcing Councils or transforming the Land Development Agency into a State Construction Company to deliver homes for all those on the lengthy-and-lengthening housing list, social housing delivery will drop even further off a cliff. That will mean more people in substandard housing and on our streets.

“At Eglinton Place, we see one of the many risks of overreliance on the private market to house the people of Ireland. Ending this expensive dependency on private developers will only work if this Government builds the public capacity to replace it. Without that investment now, people waiting for social housing could pay for this policy change through even longer waits.”

ENDS