Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are currently 1,400 rent supplement recipients in Waterford, at an approximate cost of €4.2 million this year. Some 326 of those, or almost 25% of these claims, were awarded this year.

I want to assure the Deputy that officers administering rent supplement throughout the country have considerable experience in dealing with customers and will continue to make every effort to ensure that the accommodation needs of customers are met. In Waterford, for example, officials from the Department also meet weekly with the local authority and voluntary service providers under the aegis of the Homeless Action Team which is co-ordinated by Waterford City and County Council. Discretionary powers are available to staff to award a supplement for rental purposes in exceptional cases where it appears that the circumstances of the case so warrant and these powers are used as required.

Minimising the risk of homelessness as an objective has been largely achieved in the south east region with very low levels of rough sleeping recorded over the period 2010-13 and numbers residing long term in emergency hostels have been greatly reduced. Waterford is one of the initial locations for the roll-out of the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the officials are working with the local authority to achieve that. This includes referring all new applications for rent supplement for consideration of HAP entitlement in the first instance. This will lead to a more integrated response to the delivery of housing needs and an improvement in customer service and processing times.

We are determined to meet the scale of the social housing need and we have announced, as part of budget 2015, a very large capital investment of over €2.2 billion for social housing for the next three years. In 2015, over €800 million will be invested in a range of housing programmes, which represents the first major investment in housing since 2009. I want to also assure the Deputy that the situation in Waterford is kept under review by the staff in Waterford.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Provision of a prompt service is a major objective for the Department’s staff dealing with applications for all schemes, including rent supplement. When the necessary information required to process an application is provided to the Department, a rent supplement claim will be processed within a short timeframe, approximately five to ten days.

I am acutely aware of the difficulties people are experiencing in maintaining affordable rented accommodation, including those in receipt of rent supplement, in the current market. Raising rent limits may not be the solution to the problem as it is likely to add to further rental inflation. I plan to keep the matter under close review.

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