Written answers

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Department of Social Protection

Rental Accommodation Scheme Administration

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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275. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the actions she will take to stop the discrimination by private landlords against rent allowance tenants as they are ending up homeless and on the housing waiting lists and unable to get a home; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16118/14]

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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286. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the actions she will take under existing legislation to stop landlords discriminating against rent allowance tenants as many are facing eviction and will end up homeless. [16117/14]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 275 and 286 together.

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. There are currently approximately 78,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014.

Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant. Rent supplement is specifically for the benefit of tenants to assist them with their accommodation needs. The tenant’s engagement with the Department usually takes place after the tenant has reached an agreement with the landlord. There is no contractual relationship established between the landlord and the Department. The fact that approximately 78,000 people are currently in receipt of rent supplement proves that a significant number of landlords are accommodating applicants of the scheme and that rent supplement recipients are able to access accommodation.

Discrimination on the basis of an individual’s personal characteristics is prohibited in respect of nine specified grounds in the access to and supply of goods and services, including housing, by the Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2012. These grounds are gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Travelling community. The prohibition applies to direct discrimination, whereby a person is treated less favourably than another is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on any of the grounds specified.

However, also prohibited is indirect discrimination, where an apparently neutral provision puts a person of a specified gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Travelling community at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons, unless the provision is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.

It is therefore open to a person, including a person in receipt of rent supplement, who has been refused a private tenancy and who feels that this refusal is directly linked to his or her gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Travelling community to refer a discrimination complaint to the Equality Tribunal under the Equal Status Acts. Information and advice in this regard is available from the Equality Authority.

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