Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, SWA, provides for a weekly or monthly supplement to be paid in respect of rent or mortgage interest to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support, in the form of a weekly or monthly payment, to eligible 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. Similarly, mortgage interest supplement provides short-term income support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of residence. The supplement assists with the interest portion of the mortgage repayments only.

In recent years, a significant number of people have come to rely on rent supplement for extended periods, including people on local authority housing waiting lists. On 13 June 2008 over 63,000 people were in receipt of a supplement of which almost 32,000 recipients are getting a supplement for 18 months or more. The scheme was not designed to meet long-term ongoing housing needs.

One of the measures introduced to address the issue of long-term rent supplementation is the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, which gives local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the long-term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for 18 months or more. Almost 13,000 tenants have been transferred from the rent supplement scheme to RAS since 2005.

Significant changes to the means test for rent and mortgage interest supplement were implemented in 2007. Additional provision was made specifically to facilitate people on rent supplement returning to work and those accepted as eligible for accommodation under RAS. These measures are positive steps in assisting tenants in achieving a long-term housing solution for their needs while also increasing the financial return from employment for those returning to work or moving to full-time employment.

Overall, I am satisfied that the current rent supplement and mortgage interest schemes provide an adequate short-term safety net within the overall social welfare system to ensure that people do not suffer hardship due to loss of employment. Nonetheless, I intend to keep the schemes under review to ensure that they meet the objective of catering for those who require assistance on a short-term basis while long-term housing needs are dealt with in a more appropriate manner.

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