John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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222. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the way payment will apply for rent supplement after the roll-out of the housing assistance payment in regard to paying the recipient or the landlord; her views on the reason it is necessary to have two forms of assistance in place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27819/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Government has provided over €344 million for the rent supplement scheme in 2014, the purpose of which 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 76,000 rent supplement recipients, of which over 50,000 have been in payment for more than 18 months. Officials in the Department are working with those in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, to progress the transfer of those customers with long-term housing needs from this Department to the local authorities under the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). HAP is designed to bring all long-term social housing services provided by the State together under the local authority system to provide a more integrated and streamlined service for households and to give local authorities greater flexibility to provide assistance to those in need of social housing support. One of the key benefits that HAP will bring is the removal of barriers for people currently in receipt of rent supplement in returning to employment which is consistent with the Governments commitments under the Pathways to Work programme. When fully rolled out, the HAP scheme will accommodate both long term customers currently on the rent supplement scheme and also new applicants who have been assessed by the local authority as having a housing need. Rent supplement will continue to be paid to clients who are already in the private rented sector but who, generally because of a loss of income through unemployment, require short term income support in order to pay their rent. These applicants would not normally require an assessment of housing need and the expectation would be that a return to employment would obviate the need for long term housing support.

Rent supplement will therefore, over time, return to its original intention of being a short-term payment rather than providing for a longer term housing need. There are no plans to amend the existing payment arrangements under the rent supplement scheme, for what will effectively be required to address a short term need.

I am satisfied that there is a requirement for the operation of both schemes, with HAP providing for customers long term housing needs and rent supplement to provide short term income support.