Council to seek review of Kildare social housing income thresholds
Áras Chill Dara
KILDARE County Council will seek an immediate increase to income limits for social housing.
This emerged at the most recent meeting of the council on Monday 25 May, where Labour Party councillors Aoife Breslin, Mark Leigh, Rupert Heather and Anne Breen brought forward a motion proposing that the local authority writes to Minister for Housing James Browne seeking an “immediate increase in the income limits” for the social housing list in Kildare.
They placed this proposal in the context of the county’s housing market.
The councillors said “there is a large number of persons in the county being excluded from obtaining housing” as they cannot afford rent and don’t qualify for mortgages, whilst also not fitting the criteria for social housing or affordable renting schemes.
According to Daft.ie figures, the average rent for a three-bedroom house in Kildare in the final quarter of 2025 was €2,393 per month, whilst the price to buy a three-bed semi-detached home in the county was around €400,000 on average at the end of 2025.
Director of services for housing and regeneration, Annette Aspell, issued the council’s report, which said that a revision of the income limits would require an amendment to the national regulations and that writing to the Minister was a matter for the elected members to agree upon.
The report noted that income eligibility limits for social housing in the county are set at a national level and are provided for under the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011. Kildare County Council is in Band 1 with a base net income limit of €40,000, with eligibility limits “varying depending on household size and composition”.
Speaking at the meeting, cllr Breslin – who is chair of the council’s strategic policy committee on housing – said that the situation with regards to housing in the county “is not getting any better” and asked for the support of her fellow elected members.
There was support for the proposal across the chamber, with the council executive agreeing to write the letter.
Labour Party TD for Kildare South Mark Wall raised the matter of income limits for social housing in the Dáil recently, saying the following.
“I have received a reply from the Minister for Housing and a further update on the income limits is due by the end of the year. The income limit in Kildare is set at €40,000 and my office has been supporting a number of families who either can’t get on the housing list or upon review have been removed from the housing list because of this income limit. This is an ongoing issue and must be addressed.”
Deputy Wall said that housing is main issue in his constituency office every day, with “too many working families are earning too much to qualify for social housing support, and nowhere near enough to buy their own home”.
The Kildare South TD also said that he has supported several families who are on the Working Family Payment - payment to help low-income households – whose social housing applications have been rejected due to the payment pushing them over the limit.
Deputy Wall added that he has raised the matter of the need to increase income thresholds with the Taoiseach recently.
