E
eitnos
Guest
Background - I am currently unemployed, and have been refused rent supplement by the CWO, as our rent exceeds the "local limit" of 130 a week for a couple with no children.
We were told to source accomodation that would fall under this limit, but I have been trying to source accomodation for almost 6 months now to no avail (and have been unable to find any work as of yet either in our area, which I had been hoping to, and a job I did get has fallen through yet again as the company went under) - there simply isn't anywhere we can find that is priced that low, most places are at least 30-40 euro dearer per week.
Even if we try to find someone to move in with us (we do have a spare bedroom) that still doesn't bring us down to within the limits, as the limit for a couple in shared accomodation drops to 80 euro per week, and we would be paying 100 euro a week between us, taking into account the lodger's contribution to the rent, so again we are paying 20 euro a week over and above what is "allowed" and the CWO still won't help us.
We are trying to survive by paying the full rent out of my JA (my partner is a dependent, so we receive 329 a week), leaving us with approx 500 per month after the rent is deducted, and we are sliding into trouble, as this has to cover all expenditure for two people including billls for ESB and gas, repayment of a loan I took out 3 years ago (roughly 250 a month payments, with a year left) groceries, etc etc.
What I am wondering is a) why the limits are set unfeasibly low so as to refuse virtually everyone in private rented accomodation any assistance - if you pay even a euro more on your rent than is allowed, you get no assistance whatsoever - surely it would make sense to just allow a payment up to the set limit and then pay whatever is due over and above that amount yourself? Rather than making people pay the full whack out of their JB or JA and leaving them with virtually zero to live on? I have searched high and low and the lowest rental rates I can find, even on bedsits, are all at least 60 euro a month above and beyond the rent supplement limit.
and b) is there anything I can do that might overturn the decision, as sourcing cheaper accomodation is proving impossible and we are surviving on loans from the bank and credit cards at this stage.
We were told to source accomodation that would fall under this limit, but I have been trying to source accomodation for almost 6 months now to no avail (and have been unable to find any work as of yet either in our area, which I had been hoping to, and a job I did get has fallen through yet again as the company went under) - there simply isn't anywhere we can find that is priced that low, most places are at least 30-40 euro dearer per week.
Even if we try to find someone to move in with us (we do have a spare bedroom) that still doesn't bring us down to within the limits, as the limit for a couple in shared accomodation drops to 80 euro per week, and we would be paying 100 euro a week between us, taking into account the lodger's contribution to the rent, so again we are paying 20 euro a week over and above what is "allowed" and the CWO still won't help us.
We are trying to survive by paying the full rent out of my JA (my partner is a dependent, so we receive 329 a week), leaving us with approx 500 per month after the rent is deducted, and we are sliding into trouble, as this has to cover all expenditure for two people including billls for ESB and gas, repayment of a loan I took out 3 years ago (roughly 250 a month payments, with a year left) groceries, etc etc.
What I am wondering is a) why the limits are set unfeasibly low so as to refuse virtually everyone in private rented accomodation any assistance - if you pay even a euro more on your rent than is allowed, you get no assistance whatsoever - surely it would make sense to just allow a payment up to the set limit and then pay whatever is due over and above that amount yourself? Rather than making people pay the full whack out of their JB or JA and leaving them with virtually zero to live on? I have searched high and low and the lowest rental rates I can find, even on bedsits, are all at least 60 euro a month above and beyond the rent supplement limit.
and b) is there anything I can do that might overturn the decision, as sourcing cheaper accomodation is proving impossible and we are surviving on loans from the bank and credit cards at this stage.