Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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129. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reasons there has been a significant drop in the numbers of persons availing of rent supplement from 2011 to date; the number of cases that relate to securing employment; the number of cases where the person remains on the welfare payment but no longer avails of rent supplement; and the number of persons no longer appearing in the system at all; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20587/14]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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130. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form the number of persons that availed of rent supplement in the past 12 months; the number who have been in receipt of rent supplement for three months or fewer; the number for more than three months but not more than six months; the number for more than six months but fewer than 12 months; the number in receipt for 12 months to 18 months; the number in receipt of rent supplement for more than 18 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20588/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 129 and 130 together.

The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources. 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 approximately 77,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014.

Rent supplement is a demand let scheme and recipient numbers reached an unprecedented high with a peak of over 97,000 during 2011. There are currently approximately 77,000 rent supplement recipients with the number of recipients falling by almost 20,000 during this period. A detailed breakdown on the reason customers exit rent supplement and details of their current status is not available. However, the numbers in receipt of the scheme have continued to reduce since the peak experienced in 2011 in line with the improving trends in the economy and the reduction in the live register. As of April 2014, some 33,200 persons on the live register are in receipt of rent supplement compared to a figure of 48,000 in August 2011.

The Department’s strategic policy direction is to transfer responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with a long-term housing need to local authorities under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). Officials are working closely with those in the lead Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, in piloting HAP in Limerick with further roll out to selected local authorities during the year. It should also be noted that since December 2011, almost 10,750 long term rent supplement cases have been transferred to local authority sponsored solutions, including the Rental Accommodation Scheme.

The number of rent supplement recipients by claim duration at end April 2014 is provided in the tabular statement.

Number of Recipients of Rent Supplement by Claim Duration, End of April 2014

(2) This represents unbroken continuous claims only. Where recipients change address, the claim at the new address may be recorded as a new claim and the duration spent at the previous address may not be taken into account in these statistics.