Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 377: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if rent supplement allowance will be increased in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14087/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Rent supplements are subject to a limit on the amount of rent that an applicant for rent supplement may incur. The maximum rent limits are set out in regulations. However, the HSE may, in respect of sub-divisions of its functional area and depending on local circumstances, set rent limits below the maximum limits provided for in the regulations.

The regulations provide that the maximum amount of rent in respect of which a supplement is payable in respect of a person with two children living in Kildare, is €1,200 a month. However, the HSE has determined that the appropriate rent limit, for a family of this size and in the area where the person in question reside, to be €1,050 a month.

The HSE has been informed that the rent payable by the person in question has increased by 26% from €950 to €1200 a month. The Executive considers the increased rent to be in excess of its local rent limit for a person of her family composition and size. The HSE has provided the person concerned with a three month period from 28 February 2008 to either secure alternative accommodation at a rent within the local limit or to re-negotiate the level of rent increase with the landlord in question.

Setting maximum rent limits higher than are justified by the open market would have a distorting effect on the rental market, leading to a more general rise in rent levels. This in turn would worsen the affordability of rental accommodation unnecessarily, with particular negative impact for those tenants on lower incomes.