Ms Helen Faughnan:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to appear before it. I will speak about the role of the Department of Social Protection's rent supplement scheme. In any discussion of rent supplement, it is important to be clear that the purpose of the scheme is to provide short-term income support to people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. More than €344 million has been provided for the scheme in 2014. Currently, there are approximately 76,000 rent supplement recipients, of whom more than 50,000 have been in payment for more than 18 months. The Department provides relevant details of these long-term claimants to the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government with a view to transferring them to the rental accommodation scheme, RAS.

Rent supplement is subject to a limit on the amount of rent that an applicant may incur. Limits are set at levels that enable eligible households to secure basic suitable rented accommodation and the maximum limits are generally reviewed every 18 months. The most recent review was completed in June 2013. Despite pressures on the social protection budget, the last review saw rent limits increase in line with market rents in some areas including Dublin and Galway with Dublin limits increasing by a weighted average of some 9%.

A new rent limit review has commenced and will feed into the budgetary process. This review will involve a comprehensive analysis of information from a range of sources including rental tenancies registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, the Central Statistics Office rental indices and websites advertising rental properties to ascertain both the costs and market trends for private rented accommodation. The Department will also be seeking the views from a number of stakeholders including the local staff administering the scheme and NGOs such as Threshold, Focus Ireland, the Simon Community, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and so on.

In some areas, particularly in Dublin, prospective tenants, including those seeking access to rent supplement, are finding it increasingly difficult to secure accommodation due to reduced availability of private rented accommodation.

I avail of the opportunity to assure the committee that Department of Social Protection officials have considerable experience in dealing with customers of the scheme and continue to make every effort to ensure that their accommodation needs are met. Staff in the Department’s community welfare service have discretionary powers to award a supplement for rental purposes in exceptional cases where it appears that the circumstances of the case so warrant, for example, when dealing with applicants who are homeless or who are at risk of losing their tenancy. That approximately 76,000 people are currently in receipt of rent supplement proves that a significant number of landlords are accommodating applicants of the scheme and that rent supplement recipients are being accommodated.

The Department also provides support to persons towards rent deposits under the exceptional needs payments, ENPs. This form of assistance is very important to those on low incomes who rely on the private rented market to meet their housing needs. Last year, some 4,300 people were assisted with rent deposits at a cost of €2.1 million.

In addition and in view of the current supply difficulties, the Dublin local authorities in conjunction with voluntary organisations have finalised a protocol with the Department in order that families at risk of losing existing private rented accommodation can have more timely and appropriate interventions made on their behalf. This initiative was launched this morning. These cases will be assessed on an individual basis having regard to the individual circumstances and families requiring additional support will receive the necessary assistance. In effect the Government has two initiatives to deal with long-term reliance on rent supplement. One is the rental accommodation scheme which is in operation since 2004 and the more recent housing assistance payment scheme.

At the end of March 2014 local authorities had transferred a total of almost 48,900 households from rent supplement on to the rental accommodation scheme. The Department’s strategic policy direction is to transfer responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with a long-term housing need to local authorities under HAP. Officials in the Department of Social Protection are working closely with those in the lead Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, and the local authorities in piloting HAP on an administrative basis in Limerick City and County Council which will be followed by further roll out of HAP to selected local authorities during the remainder of the year.

The household budget facility, operated by An Post on behalf of the Department of Social Protection, will be used in the early stages of HAP to provide housing authority tenants with the facility to deduct rents directly from their weekly social welfare payments. Legislative amendments specific to housing authority rents were introduced by the Department in January 2014 to increase the effectiveness of the repayment system. One of the key benefits that HAP will bring is the removal of barriers for people, perceived or otherwise, currently in receipt of rent supplement in returning to employment which is consistent with the Government's commitments under the Pathways to Work programme. This represents a significant improvement and will facilitate the approximately 33,100 rent recipients currently on the live register in returning to full-time employment. When HAP is fully in place, rent supplement will over time return to its original intention of being a short-term payment.

I trust the presentation is of assistance to the committee and I look forward to assisting with any questions from members.