Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 444: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on the affects the rent allowance reduction has had on people with special needs living in group accommodation, who are on disability allowance or benefit and whose rent allowance has been reduced; her further views on the capacity of some such persons to negotiate directly with their landlords without assistance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28037/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income 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.

The recent Supplementary Budget provided that the weekly minimum contribution which a person is expected to contribute towards their rent, be increased by €6 to €24 with effect from 1 June 2009 and that payments currently being made to existing rent supplement tenants be reduced by 8% from the same date.

Capital funding is provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government through the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS) to approved voluntary housing bodies to provide accommodation to meet the special housing needs of the elderly, the homeless or people with a physical or intellectual disability. Tenants accommodated in projects funded under CAS are eligible for limited assistance under the rent supplement scheme. The maximum rate of assistance is currently €55 per week for a single person and €60 per week for a couple. Supplementation of rent is reduced to reflect the fact that CAS housing projects are capital funded by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Rents in CAS accommodation are charged at a reasonable rate having regard to the tenant's income and the cost of managing and maintaining the dwellings. It is a matter for each housing association to set the rents payable by their tenants.

CAS tenants are subject to the increase of €6 a week in the weekly minimum contribution which they are required to make towards their rent but not the general 8% reduction in existing rent supplement payment. The maximum rate of rent supplement for those in CAS accommodation is therefore still €55 per week for a single person and €60 per week for a couple.

Reductions in rent supplement payments were applied automatically by the Department's computer systems, with effect from 1 June 2009. However, it was not possible to specifically identify CAS tenants and the rent reductions were applied automatically to their rent supplement payments. Community welfare officers were asked to identify CAS tenants and the necessary adjustments are being made to their rent supplement payments.

The Department is in ongoing discussions with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government regarding the role of local authorities who are responsible for providing a wide range of social housing supports for those with a long-term housing need. The continued payment of rent supplement to people in CAS accommodation has been raised with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with a view to having such cases transferred to the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) by the end of 2009.