Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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10. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to lift the restriction in the rental accommodation scheme which requires applicants to be in receipt of rent allowance to allow those in low-paid work to access the scheme, while the housing assistance payment has not been rolled out across all local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44132/15]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We had news again today that rents continue to spiral out of control, which will result in more evictions and make it more difficult for people to secure private rented accommodation. My question relates to a measure the Government could take to prevent evictions. I refer to circumstances where a tenant is working and his or her landlord wishes to raise the rent but is willing to enter into an arrangement with the local authority under the rental accommodation scheme. In such cases, the tenant may not enter the scheme because local authorities will not allow people to transfer to the scheme unless they are in receipt of rent allowance, even though persons who are in the scheme may work subsequently. This is a crazy anomaly. If the Government were to change the rental accommodation scheme to allow landlords who are willing to engage with the scheme to do so, it would prevent people who are working from being evicted.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The rental accommodation scheme, RAS, is a social housing scheme which has two key objectives, namely, the elimination of dependence on rent supplement by persons assessed as being qualified for and in need of social housing support, and the enhancement of the position of local authorities to respond to social housing need. As such, RAS is a social housing support targeted at those already in receipt of rent supplement and I have no plans to change that.

The Government's social housing strategy recognises that the rental accommodation scheme continues to be a successful programme which has achieved considerable output levels to date and delivered quality housing to a large number of households. Over the lifetime of the strategy, an additional 6,000 households are targeted to transfer from rent supplement to RAS.

As noted by the Deputy, the housing assistance payment, HAP, will, over time, provide for the transfer of responsibility for rent supplement recipients with a long-term housing need from the Department of Social Protection to local authorities. Similar to the rental accommodation scheme, the housing assistance payment will facilitate the removal of a potential barrier to employment by allowing recipients to remain in the scheme if they gain full-time employment.

The HAP scheme is being rolled out incrementally and is currently operational in 18 local authority areas. Some 1,940 of more than 5,400 households accommodated through HAP were in receipt of rent supplement when they transferred to the scheme. I am committed to the continued roll-out of HAP and to increasing the number of transfers from rent supplement in 2016. In that regard, I expect some 10,000 additional households, including rent supplement transfers, to be accommodated through HAP next year. In the meantime, until such time as HAP becomes operational in the remaining local authority areas, rent supplement will continue to be available to those households requiring support in meeting their housing needs in the rental market.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister of State said he would do everything he could to prevent homelessness. I have cited a specific scenario, examples of which will increase as rents continue to spiral. I have encountered a number of these cases. People who are working and living in private rented accommodation for which the landlord is seeking to increase the rent are being unnecessarily evicted because local authorities are precluded, under the terms of the rental accommodation scheme, from allowing such tenants to transfer into the scheme. This is despite the fact that persons who transfer to RAS are allowed to work. In the cases I have highlighted, the landlords are willing to enter the rental accommodation scheme. Given that most local authorities do not operate the housing assistance payment, it is no good the Minister of State telling us that the HAP is coming down the line. It is crazy that the Minister has not issued an instruction to local authorities to accept cases where the landlord of a tenant who happens to be working is willing to enter a lease arrangement with the local authority. This simple measure would prevent tenants being put out on the street.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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All of us are working towards trying to keep people in their homes. Threshold and other agencies have a tenancy sustainment protocol which provides that, irrespective of a person's circumstances, he or she cannot be evicted at the whim of a landlord or as a result of a rent increase. As the Deputy will be aware, the recent package of rent measures we introduced brings an element of stability which will help to protect many of the tenants to whom he refers.

I would not dismiss the housing assistance payment scheme as quickly as the Deputy did.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The scheme is not available in many areas.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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While I appreciate it is not in place in the Deputy's area, it is being rolled out in tranches of six or seven local authorities at a time. It will be a nationwide scheme once it has been rolled out to the remaining local authorities.

The rent supplement is essentially a short-term payment for people who need it. It was never intended to be a long-term support. The Deputy dismisses the housing assistance payment because the scheme is not available in his local area. The HAP is part of the strategy the Government is pursuing and we want to introduce it in the Deputy's local authority area. It will have the additional benefit of ensuring people continue to receive support from the State, even when they secure full-time employment. The measures the Government has taken to help sustain tenancies and keep people in their homes should be acknowledged. Tenants cannot be evicted at the whim of a landlord, as the Deputy suggested.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am not dismissing the HAP scheme. While I am not terribly happy with it, my point is that it is ridiculous to operate it in some local authorities and not in others. As a result of the failure of the Government to instruct local authorities to make a deal with landlords who are willing to enter an arrangement with them, tenants are being put out on the street. All I am asking is that an administrative change is made. There is nothing to prevent the Minister making this change to prevent people from being put out. It is a ridiculous anomaly that people who are working are being evicted, even though under the terms of the rental accommodation scheme, a recipient may remain in the scheme after he or she gets a job. Councils are not allowed to sanction the transfer into the rental accommodation scheme of tenants threatened with eviction, even in cases where the landlord is willing to enter RAS, simply because the tenant is working. This is ridiculous.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The housing authorities, namely, local councils, have a number of options available to them in terms of housing people under threat of homelessness. The Minister and I have both made direct interventions to provide additional funding to local authorities which have been presented with such cases.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Funding is not the issue.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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All these issues are related. The Deputy is essentially arguing that people are being evicted at the whim of a landlord, which is not possible under current legislation. If someone finds himself or herself in homelessness, the local housing authority will have been funded to respond in one way or another.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister of State does not understand the question.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I do understand it. We are extending the housing assistance payment and we will, in time, eliminate the rental accommodation scheme. The HAP scheme is a long-term supplement to assist people to retain their tenancy and allow them to remain in work where they are in employment.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I will explain the matter to the Minister of State afterwards.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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It will be rolled out to all local authorities, including the Deputy's local authority, in the coming period.