Further interesting point to note is that in Ireland, Local Authorities are empowered to develop certain guidelines in relation to housing assessments. They can specify categories of applicants in greater need and give them priority on waiting lists, but what is criticized in Ireland and England is that all too often, social housing does not support those in genuine need, particularly hard working class of people on low incomes. Those border-line families are often being pushed down the societal ladder, with their status degrading to second-class citizenship due to policies in prioritization for social housing. Grant Shapps made a welcome proposition in England where under the Department for Communities and Local Government new guidelines, Councils will be required to prioritize hard-working families in the queue for social housing. Such approach may promote faith in Irish government too by this category of applicants and public in general.
Ireland is presently faced with a growing problem of increasing poverty and social exclusion among some of its citizens. A new report published by Social Justice Ireland in 2013 provided some controversial statistics in relation to poverty and disposable income among Irish citizens. It showed that more than 700, 000 people are living in poverty. To have a job is not a guarantee that one lives in a poverty-free household. The report also controversially found that the poorest 10% of households have an average disposable income of €210 a week, compared to an average of €2,276 a week for the richest 10% of households. Recent Social Welfare Benefits cuts produced phenomena where the minimum payment falls below the recommended minimum income that one adult needs to be the poverty line, particularly in relation to younger job-seekers between the age of 18 and 24. Such legislative approach towards the most vulnerable members of society raises questions about equal treatment of all classes of citizens in Ireland.
Despite an ongoing regeneration of social housing estates in Ireland and the duty of care imposed on Local Authorities under the legislation and recent Regulations, the overall condition of accommodation remains below acceptable levels. Guidelines provided by in 2007 by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government are still a long way from being fully implemented and are not giving due priority by the Government at present.The development of standards is slow, based on cases in tort law, legislation and recent Regulations.
Section 114 of the Housing Act 1966, repealed by Sections 37 and 38(5) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992, places an obligation on the landlord to maintain accommodation reasonably fit for human habitation. Such objective definition resulted in a number of cases, which assisted in determining, to some extent, as to what accommodation may fall short of such standard.
In the landmark decision in Siney v Dublin Corporation, there was a flaw in the design of the accommodation. CJ O’Higgins held that there was a breach by the local authority of the implied warranty contained in the letting contract and the accommodation, with a number of health-concerning defects, was considered to be reasonably unfit for human habitation. It was also found that in the special circumstances of the letting, the defendant owed a plaintiff a duty of care to ensure that the flat was fit for human habitation and the duty was breached because the inspection was defective.
Further, in Burke (a minor) v Dublin Corporation the conversion of the heating system by the landlord, which resulted in one of the tenants suffering asthma, was discussed. The Supreme Court established a continuous obligation on the local authority to inspect and render heating system defects if there is a concern that it may lead to unfitness of accommodation and pause health and safety concerns. It was further held by CJ Finlay that the duty of a housing authority under the Housing Act 1966 involved the provision of accommodation capable of being healthily, safely and properly heated and the defendant was in breach of the implied warranty of fitness for human habitation.
In more recent times, the inquest into the controversial death of Rachel Peavoy on the 11th of January 2010 in her Dublin City Council flat brought, once again, great public attention to the housing conditions of council tenants. Despite the fact that the initial allegation against the City Council in relation to heating arrangements was dismissed; that the Dublin Coroner has returned a verdict of death by misadventure; that no breach of duty by the Council was established in the case - in was recommended at the outcome of the inquest that the City Council would review its de-tenanting procedures during the regeneration. It is surprising that the requirement of proper heating of the flat in winter, as suggested by CJ Finlay in Burke, was not discussed. Improvements in relation to heating have been made through the Regulations of 2008 which apply to existing local authority tenancies since 1 February 2013.
Standards of accommodation should be interpreted in light of current living standards, not those at the time of the enactment of the Act, what, arguably, seems to be the approach. Despite continuous economic decline and harsh budget cuts across all sectors, the hospitals continue to provide medical care equally to public and private sectors, at least in the emergency department, then why, when it comes to providing emergency accommodation to vulnerable population, the approach differs? Would it be because of the knowledge that only certain classes of citizens occupy such accommodation? Is it perceived that they may have a weaker voice in advocating better standards due to the nonexistence of any representative body? These questions remain to be answered.
Prescribed standards for rented houses are further provided for in a number of Regulations. Even though more recent Regulations placed higher standards for all rented property, only some of those apply to local authority housing.As a result, lower standards in relation to heating, food preparation and laundry are permitted for local authority tenants in comparison with private tenants.Continued on Next Page »
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Kenna P, “The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009” (2010) 15(2) Conveyancing and Property Law Journal 26.
Kenna P, “Will the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 Affect Local Government in Ireland?” (2004) 11(2) Irish Journal of European Law 193.
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O’Dea E, “Irish Housing Policy, Citizenship and Limerick Regeneration” (2012) 3(2) Limerick Student Journal of Sociology 23-39.
O’Sullivan E, Homelessness and Social Policy in the Republic of Ireland (Trinity College 1996).
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Irish Legislation:
Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009.
Housing Act 1966.
Housing Act 1988.
Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992.
Irish Regulations:
Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/534.
Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) (Amended) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/462.
Social Housing Assessment (Amendment) (No 2) Regulations 2011, SI 2011/321.
Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011, SI 2011/198.
Irish Case Law:
Siney v Dublin Corporation [1980] IR 400.
Burke (a minor) v Dublin Corporation [1991] 1 IR 341.
Dublin City Council v Fennell [2005] IR 604.
Donegan v Dublin City Council [2008] IEHC 288.
Kerry County Council v McCarthy (SC, 28 April 1997).
Byrne v Judge Scally and Dublin Corporation (HC, 12 October 2000).
Foy v An t-Ard Chlaraitheoir [2007] IEHC 470.
Gifford and Another v Dublin City Council [2007] IEHC 387.
Rock v Dublin City Council (SC, 8 February 2006).
Irish Reports:
Housing Agency, Housing Needs Assessment 2002.
Housing Agency, Housing Needs Assessment 2005.
Housing Agency, Housing Needs Assessment 2008.
Housing Agency, Housing Needs Assessment 2011.
Central Statistics Office, Special Census Report on Homelessness 2011.
Social Justice Ireland, Ireland and the Europe Strategy: Employment, Education and Poverty (14 January 2013).
The All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, Ninth Progress Report: Private Property (Pn 2218-2004).
Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities (2007).
UK Cases:
Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza [2007] UKHL 30.
Other Legislation:
European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003.
Footnotes
1.) The All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, Ninth Progress Report: Private Property (Pn 2218-2004).
2.) Eideen O’Dea, “Irish Housing Policy, Citizenship and Limerick Regeneration” (2012) 3(2) Limerick Student Journal of Sociology 23.
3.) George Galster, “Consequences from the Redistribution of Urban Poverty During the 1990s: A Cautionary Tale” (2005) 19(2) Economic Development Quarterly 119.
4.) Xavier de Souza Briggs “Housing Opportunity, Desegregation Strategy, and Policy Research” (2003) 22(2) J Pol’y Analysis Mgmt 201.
5.) The All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, Ninth Progress Report: Private Property (Pn 2218-2004).
6.) PJ Drudy and Michael Punch, Out of Reach: Inequalities in the Irish Housing System (Dublin: Tasc at New Island, 2005), 35.
7.) J. Rosie Tighe, “Public Opinion and Affordable Housing: A Review of Literature” (2010) 25 (1) Journal of Planning Literature 3.
8.) John Nixton and Caroline Hunter, “Disciplining Women: Anti-Social Behaviour and the Governance of Conduct” in Andrew Millie (ed), Securing Respect: Behavioural Expectations and Anti-Social Behaviour in the UK (Bristol: Policy Press, 2009).
9.) Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, “The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media” (1972) 36(2) Public Opinion Quarterly 176.
10.) Ronald Akers, Criminological Theories: Introduction and Evaluation (2nd edn, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers 1999), 99.
11.) Ibid., at 100.
12.) Rosie Tighe, “Public Opinion and Affordable Housing” (2012) 25(1) Journal of Planning Literature 3, 12.
13.) Joe Soss, “Lessons of Welfare: Policy Design, Political Learning and Political Action” (1999) 93(2) The American Political Science Review 363.
14.) 49% or 1,439 people aged between 15 and 59 had only education to a lower secondary level, compared to 25% of the general population. 22% were educated to a primary level compared to only 8% of the general population.
15.) Housing Agency, Housing Needs Assessment 2011.
16.) Every three years, in accordance with Section 9 of the Housing Act 1988, housing authorities are required to undertake an assessment of housing need in their functional areas.
17.) According to the Housing Needs Assessment 2011, 65,643 applicants out of 98,318 were on the waiting list because they could not meet the cost of accommodation. While 59,386 applicants were unemployed, the second largest category out of 98,318 applicants were in full or part-time employment with another 2,084 employed through Back to Work or FAS schemes.
18.) The largest category of applicants between 2002-2008 was the one where they were not able to meet the cost of accommodation. And while in the prevailing category there were unemployed applicants, the second largest category belonged to those in employment. See Housing Agency, Housing Need Assessments 2002, 2005 and 2008 for more detailed analysis.
19.) The study shows that Ireland is the fourth highest in EU according to unemployment figures and it is becoming long-term in nature and accounts for 60% of people who are unemployed. See Social Justice Ireland, Ireland and the Europe 2020 Strategy: Employment, Education and Poverty (14 January 2013).
20.) Section 85 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 sets out a manner in which a local authority is to put in place a scheme of priority. Particular regard is also to be given to certain categories of applicants, as defined in Section 9(2) of the Housing Act 1988.
21.) Daily Mail Reporter, “Prioritise “Hard-Working Families” over Unemployment on Social Housing Lists, Minister Urges” Daily Mail (London, 27 June 2012), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2165280/Prioritise-hard-working-families-unemployed-social-housing-lists-ministers-urge-councils.html,assessed 10 January 2013.
22.) For example, in 2012, the minimum recommended income was €207.94, while the Job-Seekers allowance for those aged 22-24 was only €144 and €100 for those aged 18-21, leaving those people substantially below the poverty line. The largest category of applicants on social housing waiting lists, according to the Housing Needs Assessment 2011, aged 31-40 and unemployed also receive the standard rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance of only €188 since January 2012.
23.) Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities (2007).
24.) [1980] IR 400.
25.) [1991] 1 IR 341.
26.) CJ Finlay in Burke (a minor) v Dublin Corporation [1990] 1 IR 341, 349.
27.) Even though Mr. Farrell said the abandonment of other nearby flats during the regeneration meant the heating may not have been totally effective.
28.) Gavan Reilly, “Rachel Peavoy Inquest Returning Verdict of Death by Misadventure” The Journal (6 April, 2011), http://www.thejournal.ie/rachel-peavoy-dublin-city-council-coroner-heating-ballymun-hypothermia-116922-Apr2011/, accessed 10 February 2013.
29.) Burke (a minor) v Dublin Corporation [1990] 1 IR 341.
30.) Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, Art. 5.
31.) Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/534; Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) (Amendment) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/462.
32.) Padraic Kenna, Housing Law, Rights and Policy (Clarus Press 2011), 749.
33.) Social Housing Assessment (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011, SI 2011/321.
34.) Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011, SI 2011/198.
35.) Dublin City Council v Rennell [2005] IR 604. However, it was also obiter noted in this case on page 605, that the position of the tenant of a housing authority compared unfavourably with that of a private tenant. It was further predicted, as it happened later in a number of cases, such as Donegan v Dublin City Counci [2008] IEHC 288, that such summary method might infringe certain articles of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003.
36.) Housing Act 1966, s 63(3).
37.) Unreported, Supreme Court, 28 April 1997.
38.) Unreported, High Court, 12 October 2000.
39.) Padraic Kenna, Housing Law, Rights and Policy, 2011 (Clarus Press 2011), 765.
40.) Dublin City Council v Fennell [2005] 1 IR 604.
41.) Padraic Kenna, Housing Law, Rights and Policy (Clarus Press 2011), 765.
42.) Donegan v Dublin City Council [2008] IEHC 288.
43.) Padraic Kenna, “Local Authorities and the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003” in The Irish Human Rights Law Review (Clarus Press 2010); Oran Doyle and Desmond Ryan, “Judicial Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003: Reflections and Analysis” (2011) 33 DULJ 369.
44.) Oran Doyle and Desmond Ryan, “Judicial Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003: Reflections and Analysis” (2011) 33 DULJ 369, 370.
45.) Foy v An t-Ard Chlaraitheoir [2007] IEHC 470; Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza [2004] UKHL 30.
46.) Gifford and Another v Dublin City Council [2007] IEHC 387.
47.) Rock v Dublin City Council, Unreported, Supreme Court, 8 February 2006.
48.) PJ Drudy and Michael Punch, Out of Reach: Inequalities in the Irish Housing Systems (TASC at New Island 2005) 27.
49.) Eideen O’Dea, “Irish Housing, Citizenship and Limerick Regeneration”, (2012) 3(2) Limerick Student Journal of Sociology 23, 24.
50.) Rosie Tighe, “Public Opinion and Affordable Housing: A Review of the Literature” (2010) 25(1) Journal of Planning Literature 3, 17.
