Ms Margaret McCormick:

No. Our members would be aware that under the equal status legislation they must treat everybody equally. We know that nearly 70,000 people are in receipt of some sort of subsidy. The problem is the market rent and a landlord needs a tenant to be in a position straight off to pay the market rent. The HAP and the rent supplement do not cover the market rent in many cases and that is a huge difficulty as is the fact there is no confirmation initially that a person has an entitlement to such a payment.

Once we let somebody into a property, if he or she does not pay any rent after that, we have to follow procedures and we can be months with no income and a person residing in a property. That causes significant difficulties. The system, including HAP and rent supplement, needs to work with the market system. It needs to be paid in advance in full, and directly to the landlord.