Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 122: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of housing units that are currently provided through the rental accommodation scheme; if, in view of the increasing number of unemployed persons, he will review the minimum 18 month qualifying threshold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35812/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Following a Government decision in 2004, the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) was established to meet the accommodation needs of rent supplement recipients with a long-term housing need. In the period from the commencement of transfers in September 2005 to the end of August 2009, some 22,412 households have been transferred from rent supplement. Of these, 11,987 were housed directly in RAS accommodation and a further 10,425 were accommodated under other social housing options. In terms of activity this year, some 4,401 households had been transferred from rent supplement by the end of August, equating to 65% of the total annual target of 7,000. I am confident that the transfer rate for the rest of the year will deliver the remaining 35%.

With regard to the specific issue of reviewing the 18 month qualifying criterion, while in general a household must be in receipt of rent supplement for 18 months or more in order to qualify for RAS, housing authorities do, on occasion, accept households on to RAS where they have been less than 18 months on rent supplement. This occurs where there are exceptional circumstances and where a long term housing need can be demonstrated. In addition, while in most housing authority areas there remains a significant cohort of households in receipt of rent supplement for longer than 18 months, there are a small number of authorities who have accommodated most of the 18 month cohort at this stage, and are now in consultation with the local Community Welfare Service to identify other rent supplement households that have a long term housing need and are suitable for transfer to the scheme.

It is considered, particularly in the current economic climate where rising unemployment is resulting in an increase in the numbers on rent supplement, that the 18 month threshold remains an appropriate juncture at which to review a household's ongoing need for housing. As the economy recovers, it is likely that many of these households will return to employment. In that context, the type of support provided through rent supplement i.e. short term income support, is more appropriate to the needs to these households rather then pre-determining that the households have a long term housing need. Should some households find themselves with a long term housing need, they will be provided for under the normal 18 month rule.