Report Paul Murphy
Despite the fact that Meath County Council is doing its very best to build houses there are still 275 families in the county who are homeless, a councillor told a council meeting. Independent Cllr Nick Killian said that the figures on homelessness were not going down “in any way, shape or form”. What worried him, he said, was the number of people aged over 65 who were on the housing list, with a number of them in emergency accommodation. That was because, mainly, landlords were selling up and giving people notices to quit. These were people who were tenants for a long number of years.
He complimented staff in the housing department who had to deal with very delicate situations. He asked how many social houses the council would be able to build in the coming year. The cllr also raised the issue of Hap (Housing Assistance Payment) and said he wanted to speak about the rules around Hap. Giving examples of certain situations in which people are entitled to that housing payment, he said he was dealing with one family who were in accommodation and paying €2,450 a month for a three-bed house. They are not entitled to get Hap, he said. “The dad unfortunately died and there is a mother and three children. The sad part of this that one of the daughters was in full-time education and had to leave her education and take a job in a nursing home to work to contribute towards the household”.
The other case was that of a single lady who was at the other end of the scale and paying €1,200 on a total income of €380 a week and she was not entitled to Hap. The point he was making was that there didn’t seem to be any discretion with Hap. “Hap has to be looked at in the present climate. “This is not a criticism of Meath County Council, it’s the rules I’m talking about”.
