Dr. Nat O'Connor:

On the specific point of the older people in their 60s who are renting in the private rented sector, at the moment the situation - again it relates to means tests - is that people may not be eligible to go on the housing waiting list for the local authority because their income is above the threshold, but once they stop working, they will not be able to afford market rents. We have talked to a number of people in their late 60s who are still working to pay the rent and do not know what they will do. In effect what will happen is that as soon as they move to a pension income they will become eligible for the first time for social housing as their income will be low enough, but they will go on the waiting list and the average waiting time for an older person is four or five years. The State will be on the hook for four or five years of the HAP or other rental payment supplements in an increasing number of cases of older people transitioning out of rented accommodation. People may be forced to move and lose their connection to the area where they have built their lives. The issue of top-ups is a problem. People could be on a low pension income and getting some help from the State to pay their rent but also, as the Deputy said, topping it up, which leaves them in effective poverty and deprivation that might not be perceived in the statistics.