Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 694: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress in relation to the programme for Government commitment to review the standard means test for rent supplement and provide enhanced financial incentives to take up part-time employment, training, education or other progression items, minimising where possible, the impact of the sudden withdrawal of social welfare payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29948/09]

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 695: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her review of the rent supplement has been completed; the changes this review will make to the eligibility criteria and duration of payment of rent supplement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29949/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Question Nos. 694 and 695 together. Rent supplement is payable to people who are unable to meet the cost of renting private accommodation. The supplement is intended as a short-term income support to eligible tenants whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs. There are currently almost 90,000 people in receipt of rent supplement, an increase of 51% since the end of December 2007. In recent years, a significant number of people have come to rely on rent supplement for extended periods. Over 32,600 people are getting a supplement for 18 months or more. For this reason, the rent supplement scheme has to be viewed in the context of overall housing policy, particularly in the case of long-term recipients.

The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), which was introduced in 2004, gives local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the longer term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for 18 months or more. Details of these cases are notified regularly by the Department to the local authorities. Local authorities meet the housing needs of these individuals through a range of approaches including the traditional range of social housing options, the voluntary housing sector and, in particular, RAS. Latest figures from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DoEHLG) indicate that to date, local authorities have transferred 20,000 people from rent supplement to RAS or social housing since 2005. In 2009 a target has been set of transferring an additional 7,000 households from rent supplement to RAS.

With regard to commitment to review of the rent supplement scheme and the associated means test, significant changes in the means test for rent supplement were implemented in 2007. Where a person, working up to 30 hours per week, 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 ensures that those returning to work or participating in training schemes are better off as a result of taking up such an opportunity. A person accepted as having a long term housing need under the RAS may engage in full time employment and still qualify for rent supplement.

The recent Supplementary Budget provided that the weekly minimum contribution which a person is required to pay towards their rent, be increased from €18 to €24 a week, with effect from 1 June 2009. This increased minimum weekly contribution aligns the rent supplement scheme more closely with the rent that local authority and RAS tenants have to pay. This should encourage more people to take up RAS and social housing offers.

The Supplementary Budget also provided for new maximum rent limits to take effect from 1 June 2009, to reflect the general reductions in private sector rent levels. Maximum rent limits were reduced by 6% to 7% on average ranging up to 10%, depending on the geographical area and household size. Rent supplement payments for existing tenants were similarly reduced from the same date.

Prior to the Supplementary Budget the Department analysed data from the Private Residential Tenancies Board, the CSO and a leading property rental website all of which showed significant drops in rental prices over the past year.

It is essential that state support for tenants who form a substantial section of the rental market, does not give rise to inflated rental prices. In the current climate, where there is a large number of vacant rental properties, it is expected that people should be able to get accommodation at the appropriate rental level.

The fact that there are almost 90,000 people are receiving rent supplement indicates that the scheme is effective in meeting needs. However, the rent supplement scheme will be kept under review and the Department will continue to work closely with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in ensuring that RAS meets its objective of catering for those on long term rent supplementation while enabling rent supplement to return to its original role of a short-term income support and that local authorities are supported in providing a wide range of social housing supports for those with a long-term housing need.