Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 254: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the criteria by which a person is eligible to apply for rent allowance in a county they are not normally resident in but which they wish to reside in for a number of personal and family reasons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6404/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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To qualify for a Rent Supplement a person must have been residing in private rented accommodation (where at the commencement of the tenancy the person could have reasonably afforded the rent and has experienced a substantial change in his or her circumstances where they are now unable to pay the rent) or accommodation for homeless persons or in an institution (or any combination of these) for a period of 183 days within the preceding 12 months of the date of claim for rent supplement.

A person may also be considered for rent supplement where an assessment of housing need has been carried out within the 12 months preceding the date of claim and the person is deemed by the relevant Local Authority to be eligible for and in need of social housing support.

In all other cases, a person who wishes to apply for rent supplement is referred, in the first instance, for an assessment of eligibility for social housing support by the Local Housing Authority in the area where claim to rent supplement is made (and the person intends to reside). Only when the person has been assessed as being eligible for and in need of social housing support by the relevant local housing authority, does the person become eligible for consideration for rent supplement.