Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 72: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of persons in receipt of rent supplement; the amount paid out in rent supplement and the number of landlords to whom rent supplement was paid and the average annual payment in respect of each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10998/06]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of cases of supplementary welfare allowance rent subsidy handled in each of the years from 2002 to date in 2006; the average weekly payment made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10935/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 72 and 77 together.

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The purpose of the scheme is to provide short-term income support, in the form of a weekly or monthly payment, to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. Neither I nor my Department has any function in decisions on individual claims.

Rent supplements are subject to a means test. They are normally calculated to ensure that, after payment of rent, an eligible person has income equal to the rate of basic supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to their family circumstances, less a minimum contribution, currently €13, which each recipient is required to pay from his or her own resources. Many recipients pay more than €13 because recipients are also required to contribute any additional assessable means that they have over and above the appropriate basic supplementary welfare allowance rate towards their accommodation costs.

Under the rent supplement scheme there is no direct relationship between the State and the landlord. Entitlement is based on the tenant's income support needs with payment generally made directly to the tenant. Accordingly, the Department does not maintain a record of the number of individual landlords who benefit indirectly under the scheme. The Department, on behalf of the executive, does facilitate the annual transfer to the Revenue Commissioners of details of all rent supplement payments made in respect of each individual tenancy. However, it is not possible to provide accurate statistics on landlord numbers based on those data because letting agent details only are recorded in many instances.

The number benefiting under the scheme has increased from 45,028 in 2001 to 60,176 at the end of 2005 and at 10 March 2006, there were 60,381 in receipt of a payment. During the same period, the average weekly payment increased from €80.30 in 2001 to €101.77 in 2005 and average monthly payments increased from €495.30 in 2001 to €768.47 in 2005. At December 2005, 71% of rent supplement payments were weekly.

I will arrange to have a tabular statement showing details of the number of recipients and average weekly and monthly payments for each of the years 2001 to 2005 made available to the Deputy.

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of households that have been housed under the long-term initiative for rent supplement tenants as announced on 4 July 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10946/06]

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 125: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people that have been availing of the rent supplement for 18 months or more; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10947/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 73 and 125 together.

Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, a weekly or monthly rent supplement is available to assist eligible people who are unable to meet their immediate accommodation needs through their own resources. In recent years, a significant number of people have come to rely on rent supplements for extended periods, including people on local authority housing waiting lists.

In response to this situation, the Government has introduced new rental assistance arrangements giving local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the longer-term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for 18 months or more. These arrangements are being implemented on a phased basis. When fully operational, local authorities will meet the housing needs of these individuals through a range of approaches, including the traditional range of social housing options, the voluntary housing sector and, in particular, a new public/private partnership type rental accommodation scheme. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has indicated that 777 tenants have been accommodated under the rental accommodation scheme at the end of February 2006. This is the first step towards having the new arrangements fully operational nationwide by September 2008.

At the end of 2005, 60,176 households were in receipt of assistance under the rent supplement scheme. Over half of these, almost 33,000 tenants, have been on the scheme for 18 months or more. My Department and the Health Service Executive are actively assisting the local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in implementing the new arrangements.

While tenant placements under the scheme to date have not reached the levels anticipated, I note that the rate of transfer has increased over the last four months. I appreciate that the scheme is a major new direction for local housing authorities and that there will undoubtedly be problems in developing a comprehensive range of options under the scheme to match demand. There may also be problems for local authorities in taking on some existing rented accommodation.

However, as the system rolls out, it is expected that local authorities will deal with any such situation by using their statutory powers relating to housing standards and by providing a suitable solution under the scheme for the tenants concerned. If the local authority cannot provide accommodation immediately for any reason, there is no question of those people being left without housing support. Rent supplement can continue to be provided by my Department to people in their existing accommodation on a pro tem basis until the situation is resolved.

Overall, I am satisfied that, while progress in terms of tenants transferring has been somewhat slow initially, the long standing difficulties faced by long-term private sector tenants are being tackled and all of the relevant agencies are co-operating actively to make the new system work successfully.