Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the position in relation to rent allowance; the limits for a couple in receipt of social welfare with no children; the amount they can be allocated; the amount for a single person with no children in receipt of social welfare; the criteria for a single person to rent accommodation and for the Health Service Executive to pay the rent; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36418/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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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. Payment of rent supplement is normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to their family circumstances, less a minimum weekly contribution of €24, which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. Many recipients pay more than €24 because they are also required, subject to income disregards, to contribute any additional assessable means that they have, over and above the appropriate rate of supplementary welfare allowance, towards their accommodation costs.

Rent supplement is also subject to a limit on the amount of rent that an applicant may incur. Rent limits are set at levels that enable different types of eligible households to secure and retain basic suitable rented accommodation, having regard to different rental market conditions that prevail in various parts of the State. The objective is to ensure that rent supplement is not paid in respect of overly expensive accommodation having regard to the size of the household.

The maximum rent which a person may incur and still qualify for rent supplement is prescribed in regulations. These regulations are time limited so that they can be adjusted in the light of rent levels generally and the wider economic climate. The most recent regulations cover the period to 31 May 2010. A copy of the current rent limits for all counties and household categories, including couples with no children and single people with no children, is appended.

In order to qualify for rent supplement, a person must be habitually resident in the State, be a bona fide tenant, satisfy a means test and be able to demonstrate that they are eligible for and in need of social housing. The qualifying criteria are the same for couples and single people with or without children. More detail is available on the Department's website- http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/SupplementaryWelfareAllowance/Pages/RentSupplement.aspx