Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

My experience of rent supplement is that it deters people from going to work. I do not have a problem with the concept of local authorities taking significant responsibility for what is a housing issue. However, I want to ask some questions regarding problems with the scheme or perhaps to elicit more information about it.

The public service embargo will have a bearing on the ability of local authority staff to turn the voids, or housing stock that has remained vacant for longer than six months, around quickly and to find accommodation. People may be caught between both systems. People may be obliged to travel distances or to spend long periods waiting for officials on the telephone, which will add to their costs. In cases where people currently visit health board offices, will the Minister consider using those offices to cut down on that cost or will he ask local authorities to do so?

Many aspects of this scheme could be problematic for particular individuals. For example, if a family goes over the income threshold which entitles it to be on the housing waiting list, presumably it will be automatically cut off. However, the situation may arise whereby elderly parents or parents on low income have children living with them who could push them over the threshold, so that they suddenly disappear off the Richter scale. Will the scheme also be a way of stating that a person is accommodated, so that he or she disappears from the housing waiting lists without the State ever providing a permanent home for that individual?

There are also difficulties about the voids being turned around quickly and local authorities could end up with a sizeable bill. It is difficult to figure out what will happen. Will the Minister respond to this point? After three years, when the scheme is rolled out, will local authorities be provided with the resources to continue this scheme? There appears to have been silence on that point and there are all sorts of legal difficulties. Basically, the Minister has told the House that people who currently cannot get rent assistance if they are in employment will be able to go to work if they are on the list for 18 months and join this scheme. They will pay a differential rent, a portion of the rent that would normally apply. Is this the change in how housing applicants will be considered? If so, it will result in the possibility of some applicants going to work, which is something from which they have been excluded. Is my understanding of the new scheme correct in this regard?

See this speech in context