Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

Rent supplement is administered on my behalf by the community welfare service division of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible persons 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.

The tenant makes the application for rent supplement and the Department's relationship is with the tenant in all cases. Payment is made to the tenant, is the property of the tenant and is specifically for the benefit of the tenant to assist him or her with accommodation needs. As with other social welfare payments, recipients may nominate an agent to receive payment on their behalf. There are more than 60,000 rent supplements in payment and 13,000 tenants have chosen to have rent supplement paid directly to their landlord. These arrangements are made at the request of the tenant. Payments made directly to a landlord or his or her agent may be a simple matter of convenience for the tenant. In some cases, the tenant may have an addiction or other personal problems that could impinge on their ability to meet their rental payments. Paying directly to the agent, landlord or other third party ensures the rent is paid and removes a certain burden from individual tenants.

The social welfare allowance scheme, including rent supplement, has a clear role in providing support to individuals and families and in alleviating poverty and social exclusion. The scheme is designed to enable immediate and flexible assistance to be provided to those in need. At a policy level, measures are in place to remove the disincentives to taking up employment and to assist in the transition from welfare to work. An example of this is the earnings disregard in certain circumstances for those in receipt of rent supplement. The advantage of the current arrangement for the payment of rent supplement, particularly in the short term, is that it provides recipients with a degree of flexibility in terms of the freedom to move to a different location and allows them time to seek alternative long-term housing solutions provided by their local authority. The tailoring of additional payments such as rent supplement to meet the specific needs of individuals and making those payments directly to the tenant is regarded as an effective way of helping individuals realise their potential and take individual responsibility.

As already stated, the purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible persons living in private rented accommodation. In July 2004, the Government responded to the significant number of recipients on long-term rent supplement by introducing new rental assistance arrangements giving local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the longer-term housing needs of the 32,000 people in receipt of rent supplement for 18 months or more. When fully operational, local authorities will meet the housing needs of these individuals through a variety of approaches, including the traditional range of social housing options, the voluntary housing sector and, in particular, the new public private partnership type rental accommodation scheme, RAS.

The local authority has a direct contractual relationship with the landlord in RAS tenancies. As part of that contract, the local authority makes payments directly to the landlord. Long-term recipients of rent supplement are gradually being transferred to RAS. Of the 11,000 tenants transferred from rent supplement by local authorities, 5,964 have transferred to RAS and some 3,000 are now in private sector accommodation leased by local authorities. It is envisaged that a further 5,000 transfers will take place in 2008. The objective is to complete the transfer of rent supplement recipients with long-term housing needs to local authorities by the end of next year. This roll-out of RAS will increase the numbers of landlords who have contracts with the local authorities and who will receive direct payment of rent as a result.

My Department fully supports RAS as a solution to the long-term housing requirements of eligible persons. Provisions in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007 enable those accepted as eligible for RAS to return to full-time employment and retain entitlement to rent supplement subject to the standard qualifying conditions. My Department will work closely with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in ensuring RAS meets its objective of catering for those on long-term rent supplementation while enabling rent supplement to return to its original role as a short-term income support.

Rent supplement is subject to a limit on the amount of rent that any applicant may incur. Rent limits are set at levels that enable the different eligible household types to secure and retain suitable basic rented accommodation having regard to the different rental market conditions that prevail in various parts of the State. The objective is to ensure rent supplement is not paid in respect of overly expensive accommodation having regard to the size of the household.

In January 2007, a review was completed of the maximum levels of rents a person may incur and still be eligible to receive rent supplement. The purpose of the review was to inform the process of setting new limits applicable from January 2007 until June 2008. This review included consultation with the Health Service Executive, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Central Statistics Office, Private Residential Tenancies Board and voluntary agencies working in this area. This process ensures rent limits reflect realistic market conditions throughout the State. Arising from the review, rent limits were adjusted upwards from January 2007 for several household types in 14 counties. I intend to have rent limits reviewed this year with a view to implementing from 1 July 2008 any revision found to be necessary. A consultative approach will again be used to conduct the review.

See this speech in context