Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that Senators expressed genuine concerns. Similar concerns were expressed in the Dáil regarding people on HAP not losing their position on local authority waiting lists. I want to be as clear as I can with regard to that issue. Senator Reilly's first amendment deals with particular situations, such as where somebody is evicted due to unaffordable rents, and her second amendment is related to the amendment proposed by Senators Mac Conghail and Zappone. The Fianna Fáil amendment deals specifically with people on the rental accommodation scheme and the issue of responsible tenants. The substantive issue is to ensure people do not lose their place on the waiting list and that they are given the same priority as they were originally given.

The powers available to me in respect of allocations and transfers, and for social housing support generally, are contained in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. This Bill establishes the housing assistance payment but it is not the legislation in which allocations are determined. This is why I intend to use the powers under the 2009 Act rather than make specific provision in the Bill. With regard to HAP being a social housing support, section 19 of the 2009 Act sets out the supports considered to be social housing supports, as well as giving housing authorities the power to provide, facilitate or manage the provision of that support. Section 49 of this Bill provides for an amendment to section 19 of the Act to include HAP as a social housing support. Whereas previously rent supplement was under the Department of Social Protection, it is now under the remit of local authorities and it comes within the social housing area. Due to the provision in section 37 of the Bill, which deems HAP to be an appropriate form of social housing support for households determined to be qualified under section 20 of the 2009 Act, HAP households are covered by the provisions of section 22 of the Act in so far as they apply to those already in receipt of social housing support. By making HAP a social housing support under the law, it can come under a housing authority's allocation and transfer policy.

As I have noted previously, section 22 of the 2009 Act provides that a housing authority can determine the order of priority in which it makes allocations to individual households in accordance with its allocation scheme. This includes reserving dwellings available for allocation in its area in respect of households transferring from other forms of social housing support, of which HAP will now be one. In that regard, in 2011, I issued social housing allocation regulations, which commenced on 1 May 2011, setting out the conditions that housing authorities must take into account when making their allocation schemes. All housing authorities were required to make an allocation scheme under these regulations on or before 13 June 2011. The regulations require authorities to set out the manner in which they will allocate dwellings to households on the waiting list and households that have been approved for transfers. They have to put in place a transfer policy as well as a waiting list policy. During the debate on the Bill in the Dáil, some speakers indicated that their respective local authorities did not maintain transfer lists but they are required to put in place a transfer policy. I can direct them with regard to their transfer policies.

I am committed to putting in place the statutory framework under section 22 of the 2009 Act to provide for a robust transfer policy in every local authority, which would afford HAP recipients and other social housing tenants equal opportunity to access other forms of social housing support, including incremental purchase schemes. This list, while a transfer list, will reflect the specific priority and previous position occupied by the household in question on the main waiting list in the authority area in which it is resident. Households will, therefore, be placed on a transfer list with no less favourable terms than if they had remained on the main housing waiting list. They will keep their time accrued.

It is my preference to achieve this through comprehensive regulation but if the regulations are not ready in time for the statutory pilot phase for HAP, which is due to begin shortly, I will use my powers under section 22 to issue a direction to local authorities involved in the pilot to ensure HAP recipients are afforded the same access to other forms of social housing support via their existing transfer lists, if that is their choice. In other words, my preference is regulation but, if necessary, I will be able to use powers for the preliminary phase involving six local authorities. The Limerick authority has already started to operate HAP and six more are due to come on stream before the end of this year. I can use my powers to issue a direction to them, and I am giving a commitment that I will do so. We will have to draft the regulations after the legislation has passed through both Houses of the Oireachtas and has been signed by the President.

We are already working on the drafting but we cannot publish those regulations until the legislation is complete - in other words, until HAP actually exists as a form of social housing. I want to give the House an absolute assurance that that is what I intend to do. There will be no disadvantage to anybody who has an existing build-up of years or other elements that have given them priority on the housing waiting list. That will be done by way of secondary legislation when we draft the regulations. In the meantime, I will use directions to ensure people in the next wave of six local authorities are not in any way disadvantaged. I hope that gives the clarification the Senators require.