Over €8 million was paid out to private landlords by Sligo County Council in 2024
A further €469,265.07 was paid to private landlords under the long-term Social Housing Leasing Scheme in 2024.
The figures were revealed at the April monthly meeting of Sligo County Council following a motion from councillor Declan Bree who described the sums involved as colossal.
He said the government like its predecessors has no hesitation in putting millions of euro into private landlord pockets through the HAP and RAS schemes but when it came to providing funding for the construction of local authority houses, or when it came to providing affordable housing, it was a different story.
'The report we have received points out that last year this Council paid landlords over €5 million under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), in addition to €2.7 million under the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) and almost a half a million euro under the Long Term Social Housing Leasing Scheme. A total of €8.2 million. This is a huge transfer of public money to private landlords.
'A similar amount was paid out the previous year. At a national level we know that in excess of €1 billion was paid out last year to corporate landlords and speculators through these government subsidy schemes.
'Indeed, it has to be pointed out that since 2015, the HAP Scheme has been the primary source of accommodation provided by government for people seeking housing. And every member of this Council know that the majority of the tenants who avail of the HAP scheme are also compelled to pay significant top-ups to landlords as the maximum monthly rent limits payable for a household is insufficient to cover the cost of rents.
'The free-market approach to housing and accommodation by the present government and the previous Fianna Fail-Fine Gael-Labour governments has led directly to the housing crisis we have today. As with any crisis it is working people, those on low and average incomes who suffer the most. Buying your own home is now beyond reach for a generation of young people.
'The only real solution to the housing crisis is a massive public house-building programme run and controlled by the local authorities along with a realistic investment in affordable housing. Rent subsidy schemes like HAP, that cost over €1 billion a year, are of no of long-term value to the State. It is the private rental sector corporate landlords who accumulates assets and profit through such schemes. Whereas investing funding in houses constructed by local authorities will provide public housing for this and future generations.
'In fact, only six months ago, the Dail Committee on Public Accounts in a report said that the HAP Scheme, the RAS Scheme and long-term leasing Scheme do not represent value for money for the taxpayer, do not provide the State with long-term assets, and are not effective long-term solutions to social housing needs. It must be now clear that the only real solution to the housing crisis is a massive public house-building programme run and controlled by the local authorities along with a realistic investment in affordable housing,' he said.
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