Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Dea for his question. He is probably aware that approximately 71,800 people currently receive rent supplement. Of particular interest to Deputy O'Dea is the fact that there are approximately 2,500 rent supplement recipients in Limerick, of whom 860 came into the scheme in the past year. Obviously people are able to access the rent supplement scheme, given that 34% of people in the Limerick area in receipt of the supplement joined the scheme in the past year.

There is considerable experience within local community welfare offices and we have been in regular contact with them on this issue. As recently as this week, we contacted officers on the ground with front-line experience to tell them that they have flexibility in the context of rent allowance payments. The most important element of this is to make sure that families currently in receipt of rent supplement are able to stay in their rental properties and keep abreast of what is happening in the rental market. The best way for that to happen is to use the local experience and knowledge of community welfare officers to meet the needs of families. I am constantly monitoring the situation and the Department is in constant contact with community welfare officers on the ground. It is our intention to ensure that people will be able to access homes.

We must be extremely careful, however, not to give landlords a charter to increase rents. There are many low-income families and individuals in the private rental market and there is a significant supply problem. In that context, we must be very careful to ensure that we strike the right balance in order that people in receipt of rent supplement are able to access homes in the private rental market as well as those on low incomes. While the majority of landlords would not do so, there are some who would take advantage of the current situation and increase rents further. We are using local expertise and knowledge and giving flexibility to local officers to ensure that people are able to stay in the private rental market. In the longer term, we must develop mechanisms to assist people in receipt of rent supplement back into employment.

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