Funding incentives, disincentives and vulnerabilities in the Irish council housing sector

Abstract

This article examines the incentives and vulnerabilities generated by arrangements for funding local government-provided social housing in Ireland (aka council housing). These arrangements are unusual in a Western European context because the capital costs of providing this housing are almost entirely covered by central government grants, rather than non-governmental debt finance as is the norm elsewhere. Furthermore, no housing allowances are provided to council tenants in Ireland; rather affordability is ensured by charging rents which are linked (progressively) to tenants’ incomes. Although the character and development of Irish council housing has of course been shaped by macro level political, ideological, social and economic factors, the argument offered here is that funding arrangements have also exerted a strong independent influence. These arrangements render Irish council housing more vulnerable to retrenchment and residualization than the social housing funding arrangements used in most other Western European countries.