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Home repayments impact poverty rates

poverty rates

The impact of rent and mortgage repayments on poverty rates affects single parents, disabled people, and renters who depend on housing support most severely, according to a recent Central Statistics Office (CSO) report. Equality think tank Social Justice Ireland (SJI) says almost 20% of the population is in poverty after making rent and mortgage repayments.

“The overall poverty rate in Ireland increases from 11.6% before housing costs are included to 19% after housing costs are counted – an increase of almost 371,000 people,” according to the CSO report, Housing Costs and Poverty 2022.

“This means that the real number of people in poverty is 952,185 – almost one in five of the total population.”

Poverty rates

The CSO defines poverty as living on less than 60% of the median national income, after taxes and benefits. The median income in 2021 was €25,264 per year or €485.85 per week. As a result, the 60% poverty line was €291.51 per week.

“The deprivation rate of renters is more than five times that of owner-occupiers (32% compared with 6.1%) and renters account for more than two-thirds of all people in deprivation,” says the report.

“Overall, 19.8% of people in rented accommodation, some 296,691 people, are at risk of poverty before rent payments are taken into account.” People in council housing had a pre-rent poverty rate of 39.6% last year, but a post-rent rate of 50.5%.

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