Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister to the House. The matter I raise is to do with the transferring of the administration of rental subsidies from the welfare officer to the local authority and which will cause many problems. A total of 48,000 families are on housing lists across the State and 100,000 families are on rental subsidies and in RAS, rental accommodation scheme. This is costing the State €500 million a year, which is a phenomenal sum. The local authorities face significant challenges as regards the administration of the scheme.

Many questions need to be answered. What effect will this transfer have on the role of HSE staff? Will staff be transferred to the local authorities or will the local authorities be allowed to recruit staff? It will be a major undertaking to handle such a large fund. The local authorities already deal with this money through RAS but a significant amount has not been administered by local authorities. Is there a facility under the Croke Park agreement to deal with a transfer of staff and to recruit new staff?

Families may only nominate one local authority and this will pose problems. The new rules for qualification for the housing list may mean that smaller families with sufficient room in a house may be removed from the housing list. That will pose a problem and we must scrutinise it. I would like to tease out the following questions. Will there be job losses when the local authorities take on this additional task? Will the local authorities be allowed to recruit more people? Will this happen over a period and when will it be in place? Will the Minister give us some idea of how this will work?

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ellis for raising this important issue. He knows that for many years rent supplement has been used as a form of housing support for households who are unable to afford accommodation within the private housing market and for whom social housing is not yet available. Rent supplement, however, was designed as a short-term income support and its use as a long-term housing support has distorted both the social and private housing markets and has led to an employment trap for many households, particularly those with families.

Arising out of commitments in the programme for Government to review the operation of the rent supplement scheme, and in doing so attain better value for money, proposals to integrate the systems for providing rent supplement and social housing support are being advanced. The new housing policy statement published by my Department on 16 June 2011, signalled key reforms in housing policy, including the phased transfer of responsibility for meeting the housing needs of long-term rent supplement recipients from the community welfare service to the housing authorities.

The number of households who have been receiving rent supplement in the longer term is a shared concern of several Government colleagues. Together with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose has already established a steering group to oversee the development of the project and a number of working groups have been established to address the wide range of complex issues arising. We need to ensure the transfer happens in the right way with issues like deduction of rental contributions at source being critical - but there is general agreement between all that the basic approach is a sound one.

The option being examined is the transfer of responsibilities for households in receipt of rent supplement, but who have an established long-term social housing need, from the Department of Social Protection to housing authorities. Rent supplement would continue to be paid by the Department of Social Protection to certain households. This would include those already in the private rented sector but who, because of a loss of income through unemployment, require a short-term income support to pay their rent. These applicants would not generally require an assessment of need and the expectation would be that a return to employment would obviate the requirement for long-term housing support. Thus, rent supplement would remain a short-term income support, as originally intended.

Subject to the successful conclusion of the work of the steering group, it is the intention to bring proposals to Government later in 2011. A date to begin implementing the new arrangements can then be formally agreed. The date set will allow time for the issues identified, including crucially the issue of deduction of rents at source from relevant welfare payments, to be properly resolved before implementation.

The Croke Park agreement allows for flexibility when community welfare officers from the Department of Health to the Department of Social Protection. There will be no job losses. This is about getting better value from the technology that is available in the Department of Social Protection and to get an understanding of the real requirements of people who are in receipt of rent supplement.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I welcome this move. I have always felt that this was not an issue for the welfare officers of the HSE and that it was a matter for the local authority housing departments, albeit that some people will have short-term housing need.

I have an issue with families being on rent subsidy payment for six to eight years. Will we put in place rules to determine the length of time one can stay on rent subsidy payments? Originally we were told that rent subsidy payments would last for three to four years and then people would be housed. The period has been extended and in some cases people are in receipt of a rent subsidy payment for eight years. That does not make sense. I am glad to hear that there will be no job losses as staff can be transferred under the Croke Park agreement. Some of the staff in the local authorities feared they would be swamped with work and I am delighted to learn that this issue will be looked at. I will contribute as best I can when we next discuss this issue.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ellis for his constructive remarks and I am delighted that what we are trying to do is in keeping with what he has been advocating. We can use the available technology better to understand the real needs of individual applicants in the local authority area. We can use the information we have to help people who are in genuine need. This proposal to transfer responsibility to the housing authority for households who are in receipt of rent supplement but have a long-term housing need, represents a fundamental shift in the make-up of housing support. It is expected to benefit the households involved and the Exchequer. There is no doubt there will be saving because it might catch people in receipt of duplicate payments. That, however, is not the whole purpose of the initiative, rather it is to make the delivery of supports to the citizen better. When it is implemented I believe it will encourage job take-up by tenants who have been caught in poverty traps up to now. It will deliver greater value for money for the taxpayer and it will provide security of tenure and greater stability in the private rented market and contribute towards the creation of a higher quality private rented sector, through improved standards. In my view it will provide a better integrated and streamlined service for the citizen. I appreciate this is a complex issue and we are allowing a long lead in time. I have outlined the general principles of what the Government has in mind.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Are there plans to examine the length of time people should be in receipt of rent subsidy allowance payments?

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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We are considering that issue and it will form part of the Government decision.