Ten Bullshit Things Said About Social Housing!

As council tenants across Dublin get organised to reverse rent hikes that will crucify the poorest families, council tenant James O’Toole takes on some of the bullshit that will be thrown back at us. Arm yourself with these ideas.

ONE: This money is needed for maintenance.

Central government has cut council budgets but the intentional running down of our estates has been going on since the 1980s. So if they need the rent rise to pay for maintenance why didn’t they do maintenance when they had money?

Council tenants are facing terrible conditions with damp, mould and general neglect of the estates. Holding the estates to ransom and saying “we won’t fix a thing unless you pay more rent!” is a disgrace.

And shame on Labour and the Greens for pushing this line at council meetings. The intentional running down of our estates has been government policy for decades as they want us out of public housing and in the hands of private profiteers.

By the way, the council has decided to spend €670 million on a new HQ at Camden Yards in Dublin 8. The rent rise will raise around €30 million. So will the higher rents be used to maintain our estates? No, it’ll pay for the new DCC HQ!

TWO: Why should people who don’t work get free housing?

We don’t. Most of us work and pay rent. In many cases working families are paying rent that’s close to market rent. In fact, the council has said the rent rise is because there are so many people working in social housing that the council wants to generate more income by raising rents.

And for those who don’t work many are on disability or the old age pension. Should we not support those people with social housing? The whole idea of social housing is to give a safety net to workers and poor people so they can maybe save or send a kid to college.

Every worker should have that option. It used to be the case that every worker could apply for social housing but the government pulled a fast one and brought in really low income thresholds because they wanted to ghetto-ise social housing and then scare workers into getting mortgages or private rented accommodation.

THREE: If their kids are working why shouldn’t they pay more?

Working class families have kids living at home because of the housing crisis. They’ve no alternative but to live at home. Then the council says “well, the government has cut our funding so who should pay for that? Oh, yeah the poorest families in the city!”

The whole point of social housing is to give workers a leg up so they can save, maybe dream of a better life for their kids. If government gets everyone to adopt a Thatcherite mindset where every public service has to pay its way then we’re screwed.

Public housing, public healthcare and public transport need to be defended against outsourcing and privatisation. They should be paid for by taxing the likes of billionaires Denis O’Brien and Larry Goodman. That way every worker would have the option if they wanted it.

FOUR: This is the first rent rise in decades.

That’s just not true. If rent is a percentage of income then it’s risen every single year as wages and welfare have risen. Council rents have risen every single year for decades. That’s just a fact.

This is the first change in how they calculate the rents in years. That’s not the same thing. Yet the media is reporting “the first rent rise in years!” and some people buy into that bullshit.

The council does a yearly rent review every Spring and everyone’s rent has increased as their wages and welfare increased.

FIVE: There are people in rent arrears so the council needs to raise rent.

So tenants who pay their rent should pay for those that don’t? Imagine someone knocked on your door and said “hey your neighbour hasn’t paid their mortgage in a year so we’re gonna make you pay for it!” There’d be uproar.

Why should council tenants suffer collective punishment when one person does something wrong? And the council isn’t picking the pockets of the poorest families in order to make up for unpaid rent.

Central government has cut funding to the council and the council wants to make that up and instead of going after big business, derelict sites or hotels for taxes and fines they’re going for what they think’s an easy target.

SIX: What about people who are paying high rents in private accommodation?

They shouldn’t be. If there was more social housing then that increased supply would bring down all rents and house prices and those who wanted to go private would benefit.

By turning on social housing tenants private tenants would just be shooting themselves in the foot. We need far more state housing builds and that increased supply would bring down rents and prices. That’s why the government won’t do it!

It would hit the developers and landlords who wouldn’t be able to live off the backs of workers in private rental. They need to get rid of the income thresholds and make social housing available to every worker who wants it. That would benefit everyone.

SEVEN: Social housing increases crime.

For 40 years government after government intentionally ran down the estates and using income thresholds made social housing into housing for the poorest workers and people on welfare. This was a strategy designed to make social housing a last resort for most workers.

In the 1960s when there was full employment and stable communities the estates had very little crime and Dáil debates even talking about shutting down the prisons. The global economy came crashing down in 1973 and by 1984 crime was peaking in the poorest areas.

The economic underpinnings of a community are the main factor in determining how much crime there is. Even the government’s own report into anti-social behaviour in Cherry Orchard came to the conclusion that “deprivation” was the main driver into crime. It’s simple.

The solution is to have an economy that provides a stable economic underpinning to working class communities. We need specialised housing for those with addiction problems instead of leaving people to fend for themselves and let their neighbours pick up the tab. We need youth services and mentoring.

We’ve been crying out for these things for years. But the government won’t listen. Demonising social housing serves a purpose. It pushes workers into the hands of banks and private landlords.

If you removed the low income thresholds to social housing it would be housing for all workers, that would create stable communities. The answer is to extend social housing not limit it.

EIGHT: Why should those who have a mortage pay for social housing?

They shouldn’t. Any tax like the property tax, that hits working class people, should be abolished and replaced with wealth taxes that hit the billionaires. If a tax hits workers it’s not a wealth tax, no matter what Labour say.

The extension of social housing would be better for those living in social housing, be better for all those who want to buy privately as increased housing supply brings prices down, and would be better for all those in private rental.

At the moment it’s very hard for the vast majority of young workers to even get a mortgage. House prices are through the roof. This is impacting social housing tenants too as working kids are forced to stay at home, increasing rents.

We are all facing the same housing crisis from different angles and if we let the government or the council divide us we’re taking our eye off the ball and letting them away with it.

NINE: Social housing creates a culture of dependency.

This is nonsense. Giving workers support gives them the opportunity to dream a little, to send a kid to college or save for the future. We live in a society where no worker is allowed have disposable income anymore. Bills are through the roof and by the time we’ve paid everything there’s little left.

The system thrives on keeping us nose to the wheel, stressed and stretched. Every worker should have the right to save for their future or for their kids. Giving people that leeway is a springboard to a better life for many. Taking it away will destroy lives, steal futures and narrow horizons.

TEN: There’s nothing we can do to stop it.

That’s not true. We stopped water charges because we had the numbers. We forced the entire establishment to back down. If we get thousands out on the streets and then escalate from there, then the council executive will reverse this.

The government’s housing document published late last year said they want to move to one affordable housing sector, blending cost rental and social. All these myths helps them to do just that.

They want to eventually get rid of social housing and only have cost rental, which is still pegged to market rents but just a bit lower. The first step to this model is raising social housing rents closer and closer to cost rental rents.

As long as we live under a system that’s dominated by greedy billionaires and their political puppets in the Dáil and the councils then social housing, public healthcare, public transport, public education, it’s all under threat.

We need to rise up and reverse this rent hike and then build a wider movement to put working class people in the driving seat of a socialist, planned economy, where every worker is guaranteed a home and a stable economy allows us to finally dream of a better future for all our kids.