Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of applicants accommodated under the long-term accommodation initiative for rent supplement tenants by county in 2004, 2005 and to date in 2006; if this scheme is proving beneficial to both the State and the tenants; the savings to the State from the reduction in rent supplement payments for these same time periods; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25463/06]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The key objectives of the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) are to eliminate dependence on SWA rent supplement scheme by persons assessed as needing housing assistance on a long term basis; enhance the response of local authorities in meeting long-term housing need; provide an additional source of good quality accommodation for eligible persons and potentially provide more effective utilisation of resources for housing assistance. The initial project to transfer rent supplement recipients of 18 months or more continuous duration is due to be completed by the end of 2008.

Good progress has been made in setting up the management and financial systems, legal forms and administrative arrangements for the implementation of the scheme. Roll out commenced in an initial group of lead authorities in 2005 and the first transfers to the scheme were made in September of that year. The authorities now actively operating the scheme cover over 85% of the transferable cases and from mid-year it is expected that all authorities will have commenced work on the scheme. All of the relevant agencies are co-operating actively to ensure that by the end of 2006, effectively the first year of operation, 5,000 households will have transferred.

I am satisfied at this early stage that good progress is being made in meeting all the objectives for the Rental Accommodation Scheme including making savings where these can be achieved. In terms of achieving the objectives of the scheme, the indications from local authorities have been positive to date with over 1,200 cases transferred to RAS accommodation. A further 770 households who were recipients of Rent Supplement have been provided with local authority housing. A breakdown of the number of transfers to date by county from Rent Supplement to RAS is provided in the table below. A full review of the operation of the scheme, including an assessment of the financial costs and benefits, will be undertaken before the end of the implementation period in 2008. Initial indications are that there have been savings on rents on about a third of the transfers to private accommodation to date. The following table outlines the Number of Rent Supplement Cases transferred to the Rental Accommodation Scheme — it should be noted that Transfers from Rent Supplement to the Rental Accommodation Scheme commenced in 2005 — in 2004, 2005 and 2006 to the end of May, by county: