Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 290: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will establish a review of the treatment of people who are working and renting privately on low income, who currently are deemed to have insufficient income to purchase an affordable house, but who are excluded from the rent supplement and rental accommodation scheme and for whom family income supplement means test takes no account of their obligations, leaving them with little opportunity to better themselves. [16009/08]

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

The position of people on low income who are working and who are renting their home in the private rented residential sector is a significant issue for Government. The Government's overall objective is to enable every household to have available an affordable dwelling of good quality, suited to its needs, in a good environment and as far as possible at the tenure of its choice. To this end, my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government provides a range of supports within the overall housing system, to meet the long-term housing needs of people in various different circumstances. These supports include traditional social housing and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), both of which provide tenants with the considerable benefit of Differential Rent. They also include shared ownership and affordable housing schemes, which enable people to enter into home ownership in cases where commercial mortgage providers would not be prepared to provide the necessary long-term finance because of the income position of the people concerned.

The Affordable Homes Partnership, which operates under the aegis of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has recently considered how the range of existing affordable housing mechanisms might be enhanced. A public consultation on their report is currently underway and there will also be a structured engagement with the social partners, housing practitioners and financiers on the findings and recommendations of this report, including the need for affordable renting.

My own Department plays a role in providing income maintenance support where required in particular circumstances by tenants in the private rented residential sector. Rent supplement is administered on my behalf by the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The purpose of rent supplement is to provide short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source. The scheme works well in assisting tenants who experience a change in their financial circumstances, for example as a result of becoming ill or unemployed. It is not designed to meet long-term ongoing housing need.

Significant changes to the means test were implemented in 2007 specifically to facilitate people returning to work. Where a person has additional income in excess of the standard weekly rate of supplementary welfare allowance, the first €75 of such additional income together with 25% of any additional income above €75 is disregarded for means assessment purposes.

This improvement in the assessment of means for those with income from employment, applies to all rent supplement recipients who are engaged in employment of less than 30 hours per week. It also applies to those returning to fulltime employment and who are accepted as eligible for accommodation under the rental accommodation scheme (RAS). These measures ensure that those returning to work or participating in training schemes are better off as a result of taking up such an opportunity.

Family Income Supplement (FIS) is a weekly tax-free payment for families, including one-parent families, at work on low pay. The payment provides an incentive for people to take up or remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if s/he were claiming other social welfare payments. FIS can be paid with some other social welfare payments in certain defined circumstances. Rent payments are not disregarded in the assessment of means for FIS purposes. Assessable earnings are gross pay minus tax, employee PRSI and superannuation contributions.

I do not propose to change the means testing arrangements for FIS to take account of housing costs because I consider that a long-term housing solution is what the families affected require, not an income supplement in lieu of long-term housing. Overall I consider that the current range of housing supports, together with the enhancements that may emerge from the current public consultation being undertaken by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government in relation to affordable housing, provides that potential for the families concerned. Should additional financing become available to address their needs, I consider that it would be preferable to deploy that finance directly in the housing support system rather than through the social welfare system.