Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection her future plans, if any, to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the rent supplement scheme, bearing in mind the struggles that both landlords and tenants face, particularly tenants who have mortgage commitments that they must honour; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38687/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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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. The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer. There are currently over 90,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided €436 million for 2012.

The housing policy framework published by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Housing & Planning in June 2011 contains the announcement for the transfer of responsibility in providing housing needs for long term rent supplement recipients to housing authorities. A multi-agency steering group has been established to develop proposals to give effect to this transfer. The group is chaired by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and consists of representatives from the Departments of Social Protection; Public Expenditure and Reform; Office of the Revenue Commissioners; the County and City Managers Association, and the Housing Agency. This will help achieve a key Government commitment of removing barriers to employment at the same time returning rent supplement to its original purpose, that of a short term income support payment for those temporarily unemployed.

The timescale for determining individual applications for rent supplement is dependent, among other things, on the availability of the required information, such as details of the applicant’s income, bank statements, etc. In addition, some aspects of the application are inevitably time consuming and delays can occur where investigations such as home visits or third party evidence are required. Delays can also arise if the applicant is slow to respond to requests for additional information.

The provision of a prompt service is a major objective for the Department’s staff dealing with rent supplement applications in ensuring that tenants can meet their rental commitments. However, this is tempered by the necessity to ensure that every case is fully investigated and that all cases are dealt with in a consistent and fair manner.