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%.