Written answers

Thursday, 30 April 2009

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Social Welfare Benefits

5:00 pm

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the hardship increasing the minimum contribution to the rent supplement by a recipient by a further €6 will cause; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17037/09]

Photo of Willie PenroseWillie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 43: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the way she proposes to ensure that no existing tenant on rent supplement will be made homeless as a result of her decision to reduce rents on existing tenancies by 8%. [16997/09]

Photo of Lucinda CreightonLucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the assistance put in place to facilitate planned changes in the rent supplement supports; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17043/09]

Photo of Arthur MorganArthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 58: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the evidence presented to her to illustrate that rents have fallen in the lower end of the market in each county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16961/09]

Photo of Willie PenroseWillie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 64: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will set out the rent supplement caps that will apply following her recent decision to reduce the maximum amount of rent available to rent supplement tenants. [16996/09]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 36, 43, 53, 58 and 64 together.

The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support 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. There are currently almost 85,000 people in receipt of rent supplement, an increase of 42% since the end of December 2007. It is essential that state support for tenants does not give rise to inflated rental prices and overcharging by landlords.

The recent supplementary budget provided that payments currently being made to existing rent supplement tenants be reduced by 8% with effect from 1 June 2009 in the expectation that landlords will reduce their rents, given the reductions in rent levels in the private rental market as a whole. While tenants may be contractually obliged to pay the rent agreed to in their lease, it is expected that landlords will decrease the rent in recognition of the fact that rents have fallen generally and that there are now a large number of vacant rental properties nationally.

Other changes in the supplementary budget provide for new maximum rent limits to be prescribed in regulations to take effect from 1 June 2009 to reflect the general reductions in private sector rent levels as well as an increase of €6 in the minimum contribution towards rent and mortgage interest supplement to €24 a week. This increased contribution aligns the contribution made under this scheme more closely with the rents paid by local authority tenants and should facilitate a smoother transition to the RAS. The new maximum rent limits re regulations will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Data published by the CSO shows that rents fell by almost 7% between November 2008 and February 2009. A leading property website reports that rents have fallen by around 12% in the last year. A similar trend is apparent in tenancies registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Existing recipients of rent supplement will be advised by letter in advance of the change being made to their rent payment and this communication can be shown to landlords as evidence of the revised rent supplement in payment in individual cases. Landlords will be advised through advertising in the print media of the general reduction in rent supplement payments.

Community Welfare Officers have discretion to provide assistance where exceptional circumstances exist in any individual case e.g. where homelessness might result due to the inability of a person to meet their rent payment.

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