Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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668. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of funds to be allocated to the housing assistance payment until 2020 that is new money; and the amount that is money previously allocated to the rent allowance scheme. [15784/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a new social housing support being introduced by local authorities. HAP will replace Rent Supplement for those with a long-term housing need who qualify for social housing support. The introduction of HAP means that local authorities can now provide housing assistance for households with a long term housing need, including many long term Rent Supplement recipients. Funding for the scheme is provided by a transfer of monies from the Department of Social Protection’s Vote to the Vote of my Department. Monies are provided on an Exchequer neutral basis to meet the costs of persons transferring from the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Rent Supplement Scheme to the HAP scheme.

Voted expenditure in respect of HAP in 2014 amounted to just under €394,000, which was used to meet the cost of HAP payments to landlords, the administration costs of local authorities and the funding of information material on the scheme for dissemination to prospective landlords and tenants. At the end of 2014, 485 households were in receipt of a HAP payment across 7 pilot local authorities.

An Exchequer allocation of €23,200,000 has been made for HAP within my Department’s Vote in 2015. This amount is to meet the cost, primarily, of payments to landlords in respect of an additional 8,400 HAP recipients , as well as the on-going funding commitment associated with the 485 households in receipt of HAP at end 2014. This allocation will also meet the on-going administration costs of local authorities. There are now some 1,500 households in receipt of the HAP payment across the pilot areas.

It is intended to keep the above arrangements under review as HAP is rolled out to other local authorities including a full review of the statutory pilot phase when complete.

Exchequer allocations for the Rent Supplement Scheme are a matter for my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection.