Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take our motion today and Senators Hayden and Landy for spearheading this on behalf of the Labour Party. The fact that we are in government does not mean we do not use any available opportunity to highlight an issue that has become a crisis. I want to speak on the issue of rent allowance and HAP and the dependency of the unemployed and low-paid workers on rent supplement or the rent allowance. Without such support from the Government, there is no way they could afford private rental accommodation. Rent is going up all the time. People simply cannot afford it.

At the moment approximately 71,000 people are in receipt of rent supplement. The Government allocated €344 million to rent supplement in 2014, with a commitment of €297 million for rent supplement in 2015. That is in addition to the €20 million funding that has been given to the Minister of State's Department for the HAP scheme. Having said that, and others have spoken about it here, there are areas of the country where the cap is just too restrictive. I can speak about this because I come from Killarney, where private rental accommodation is very expensive. There is a demand within the private sector and landlords know they will get the rent from those who are working and who can afford to pay it. They can shove people in receipt of rent supplement out in the cold. These people are then forced to go out into rural areas, where the rent is lower and may be within the cap. That could entail the children moving school, which is a big issue if a child is settled into a school. The child might be in fourth or fifth class and have to move. The parents might have to move and might not want to tell the children why, that they simply cannot afford the rent in urban areas. It means they probably have to get a car, which they would not really have needed if they continued to live in the town. They are in and out because of after-school activities the children are involved in. There is a huge increase in cost for people having to move out the country.

By having the cap so low in areas like that, we are encouraging under-the-counter payments to landlords because people want to stay in a house. They know that if they had another €50 a week, they could meet it, so they give it in cash and clear the cap amount for the rent supplement. That is why I welcome the movement to the HAP scheme. It is a housing issue, and it should all be within the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. As I have been a spokesperson on social protection and this comes under that, I have been keeping a close eye on it. I have often raised it at the Oireachtas committee with regard to the caps and it seems to be falling on deaf ears among the officials in the Department, but rent supplement is one of the biggest deterrents to taking up employment for its recipients. Who can blame them? Taking up employment would result in the loss of their rent supplement, making them believe they are better off unemployed. That is why I welcome the move to HAP, because this operates as a differential rent scheme, just as if one were in a local authority house.

I have been following the progress of HAP in the areas where it has been rolled out and I will give an update on what I have found out about the HAP. The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 was enacted on 28 July 2014. HAP was being introduced on a phased basis. Subsequently HAP wave one commencements took effect from 15 September in Limerick City and County Council, Waterford City and County Council and Cork County Council, and from 1 October in Louth County Council, Kilkenny County Council, South Dublin County Council and Monaghan County Council. To date, 783 customers have transferred to HAP. Numbers are increasing at a significant rate following an initial settling-in period for the local authorities. There is a target to achieve 8,400 HAP cases in 2015, as set out in the Social Housing Strategy 2020: Support, Supply and Reform. A HAP homelessness pilot was commenced on 18 December 2014. Dublin City Council will administer the pilot on behalf of the other Dublin local authorities and will specifically target homeless households. For the information of Members, I have a breakdown by county of the HAP recipients: Cork County Council has 123, Kilkenny County Council has 188, Limerick City and County Council has 270, Louth County Council has 73, Monaghan County Council has 29, Waterford City and County Council has 76 and South Dublin County Council has 34, which is a total of 783. We need to move a little faster and roll this out to all the areas around Ireland. I want it in Kerry and I am sure other Senators want it in their counties and their areas, because people can go back to work and not be in fear of losing their rent supplement. They will pay their rent according to their income. This is a great idea and I wish we could roll it out to as many counties as possible.

I would like to mention just one small issue, if the Cathaoirleach would indulge me. I have a number of women who are subjects of domestic violence and have had to leave their family homes. While they will get the rent supplement because the officials are a bit lenient and can use some discretion, they will not get a local authority house while their name is still on the family home and we are forcing them to give up their right to the family home. It is an issue that is probably for another day's debate, but I would like to bring it to the attention of the Minister of State.