Income limits for Offaly social housing eligibility to be raised

Independent TD for Laois Offaly, Carol Nolan, has said she welcomes expected moves by the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien to increase the income eligibility threshold for social housing in Offaly by €5,000 from January 2023.

Deputy Nolan had previously welcomed similar changes that were applied to the Laois Local Authority in September. Those change which came into effect from 1 October last changed the baseline income eligibility threshold from €25,000 to €30,000.

It is now understood that all local authorities will be able to apply similar changes from the start of the new year:

“I have been consistently calling on Minister O’Brien to clarify why Offaly was excluded from the first round of changes to the social housing income thresholds announced two months ago,” said Deputy Nolan.

“Indeed, I raised the matter with Government once again in October. At that time, I repeated my argument that it was grossly unfair to exclude families or individuals in Offaly because they were marginally over the existing income limit.”

“I will wait and see the final details of the memo that is brought to Cabinet on this issue, but for now I welcome any change that will make applying for social housing or emergency supports more accessible to a greater number of people,” Deputy Nolan concluded.