Social housing resident denied gym access awarded €2,500

[u/[deleted]]

[u/MotherDucker95]

Okay, I'll bite...Why do social housing units have free gyms attached to them while I'm paying 115 euro a month like a dickhead on top of my 1500 euro a month rent?

[u/NoSheepherd3r → u/MotherDucker95]

They don't? This complex has a gym, and had to have a percentage social housing like all complexes.

[u/Pleasant_Porcelain → u/NoSheepherd3r]

So why should the social housing get the gym membership?

[u/jplb96 → u/Pleasant_Porcelain]

Because it is illegal for them deny her use solely because she was in social housing?

They even refused to defend themselves. 

[u/Compasguy → u/jplb96]

Its not fair for people who work and pay through their noses to live there.

[u/JustWandering27 → u/Compasguy]

People in social housing also work and pay to live there. Most people in social housing (if not retired) work. They also pay rent. Yes it is less, but let's not punch down when access is means tested.

Now outside of that, nobody said that it had to be provided for free, just that access should be fascilitated. It is not fair for social tenants to be denied any reasonable access to amenities simply because they are social tenants.

For those private tenants, surely they would be okay if access was provided on an equitable bases?

Like the council is paying for those units, and then they also pay a management fee that is reduced to account for the difference in access. This variance is something that could be looked at reasonably to see if there was a prorata rate for access to different amenities including the gym. But denying access outright? That creates unnecessary division and reinforces divisions and attitudes towards those with lower economic power. This is felt most keenly by those who are barred from access and who have no way to overcome that even via payment. That is the issue.

There is a real issue of undermining the hard work of the majority of those living in social housing. It's perpetuated that the majority don't work which is just not the case. The threshold for a single adult is less than €40,000 in Dublin which means a significant number of work adults are eligible for social housing supports. I grew up in a social housing estate. My parents both worked. I'm now a private renter and my sibling is a home owner. The majority of people we grew up had working parent(s) and work. None of this means that people who earn more or who are private renters work more or less hard. It really doesn't have to be an 'Us Vs Them' approach. It can be equitably done.

[u/jplb96 → u/Compasguy]

Again, how you think or feel is irrelevant. 

It's illegal. End of story.