Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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99. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the work of her Department to date in transferring its function in regard to the administration of the rent supplement scheme to local authorities with the roll-out of the housing assistance payment scheme. [41659/14]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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The Minister's reply to this last question reminded me that Wolfgang Schäuble was in town last week visiting the branch office, where he met his branch managers, Ministers Noonan and Howlin. I suppose they gave him a report on how the branch office is performing, in regard to the Deutschland project and to his boss, Prime Minister Merkel. The fact is the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, did nothing constructive in the budget.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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We are on Question No. 99.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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In regard to the winding down of the rent supplement scheme and its transfer to the local authorities by way of HAP, incredible service difficulties are being endured by the 73,000 families and individuals on rent supplement. The Minister told the House recently that 50,000 of them have been on rent supplement for more than 18 months. Many of these are facing rising rents and must try to make up these rents out of their own pockets. This Minister slashed rent supplement by €200 million or €250 million and as she knows, I made a pre-budget submission to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform asking for rent controls. I know there is no chance the Minister's Fine Gael bosses in the Government would allow her to introduce any kind of rent control, but will she give us a briefing on HAP?

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. He is correct to say there are approximately 73,500 people in receipt of rent supplement, almost 49,000 of whom are in receipt of the supplement for over 18 months. The Department’s strategic policy direction is to return rent supplement to its original purpose of a short-term income support scheme. Under the new housing assistance payment, HAP, responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with a long-term housing need will transfer to local authorities. HAP will provide a more integrated system of housing supports and has been designed to allow any householder that finds full-time employment to remain in the scheme. Rent supplement will continue to be paid to those already in the private rented sector who have a short-term need of rental support, often as a result of the loss of employment. HAP is being introduced on a phased basis. It was rolled out in County Cork, Limerick City and county and Waterford City and county in September last and was further extended to four other counties in October. To date, some 403 persons have been transferred to HAP following engagement between local Department staff and local authorities.

Officials in the Department continue to work closely with those in the local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to support the implementation of HAP and transfer of 8,000 cases to HAP during 2015.

The Department is represented at senior level on both the HAP oversight group and the HAP project board. In terms of facilitating HAP, significant work has been undertaken by the Department at both local and central level. In addition, the household budget scheme was amended in January 2014 to support further the collection of rents for local authorities in advance of HAP roll-out. The Department is also undertaking development of its computer systems to support the direct deduction of local authority rents from social welfare payments, which will apply to HAP and other local authority housing recipients.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. Is he saying that by the end of the Government's term, only from 8,000 to 10,000 of the 73,000 households will have been transferred to HAP?

What exactly does that mean in regard to the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014? The Minister of State will remember we had a lengthy and very passionate debate in this House with the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, about whether section 37 would mean that when these private tenants were transferred to the HAP, they would then be regarded as being housed. Has that matter been totally clarified? The Minister later said that, in her view, people would retain their places on the list and so on. It is a very important element of what is happening in regard to rent supplement.

This morning we received a briefing from the Simon Community which recommended an urgent review of rent supplement limits and increasing the limits to deal with rapidly escalating rents. Effectively, as the Minister of State will know from his constituency, rents are jumping by €200, €300 or more a month, with families desperately trying to keep up. What is the status of the so-called Dublin protocol, whereby rent supplement limits are allowed to be exceeded by the Tánaiste's Department in certain cases? Is it being expanded? Is it something in which the Minister of State has a particular interest?

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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To take the last question first, the protocol has been operating very well in conjunction with the local authorities and Threshold. So far, over 200 people have been assisted. I will send on further details, if the Deputy wants-----

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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That would only be enough in Dublin South-East. What about the rest of us?

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The protocol has been recognised by the local authorities, Threshold and the families who have engaged with it as successful in maintaining people in homes, which is always extremely important.

On the other question, the Deputy is correct that the intention of the Government is that we transfer 8,000 to the HAP by the end of 2015, but, as he well knows, that does not cover the full term of the Government. We also have a very ambitious programme to build homes. It is far better to spend the money on building new homes rather than transferring funds to landlords. It was announced in the budget that €2.2 billion would be spent in the next three years on the social housing programme, which is extremely important, of which €800 million will be spent in 2015.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Time is up. I will come back to the Minister of State.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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On the review of rent supplement limits, is the Minister of State doing anything serious or is it just a PR exercise, given the fact that the Tánaiste slashed rent supplement supports? She could have approached the issue from the other end in that she could have looked at rent caps or limits, or even taken the suggestion made in regard to inflation. However, as I said, her Fine Gael masters will not allow that to happen; therefore, it cannot happen, although we desperately need rent controls as part of the solution.

I welcome the point the Minister of State makes about the protocol, but, unfortunately, these are all tiny steps. My great predecessor in Dublin North-East used to say as Minister, as one of his key themes, if one looks through his various books, that members of the Executive were personally responsible for the suffering that happened within their remit. The suffering of the children in households we represent, for whom there is grave uncertainty about being evicted and who endure terror, is the responsibility of the Ministers opposite and something they should address.

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I am trying to answer the Deputy's direct questions, one of which was where would a person be on the transfer list if they were to be included in the HAP scheme. The transfer list reflects the specific priority a resident had on the waiting list. As far as I know, the local authorities have been notified by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in this regard.

Rent allowance was increased last June. The Deputy knows as well as I do, coming from a Dublin constituency, that the real problem, especially within the greater Dublin area, is supply. While I will certainly be keeping the rent bands under review, the real problem is supply; that is the issue that has to be tackled as a matter of urgency.