Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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256. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if rent allowance will be paid in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Offaly who remains on Kildare County Council's housing list, who was previously in receipt of rent allowance but who had to move to Offaly due to prohibitive rental prices in County Kildare, and who is at real risk of homelessness in the absence of payment of rent allowance as soon as possible; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31743/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Under the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with a long-term housing need is being transferred to local authorities. HAP is being introduced to provide a more integrated system of housing supports and has been designed to allow any households that find full-time employment to remain in the scheme.

The rent supplement scheme provides 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 approximately 65,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €298 million for 2015.

In HAP designated areas, it is a condition of rent supplement that a person must have been residing in private rented accommodation, or accommodation for homeless persons or an institution (or any combination of these) for a period of 183 days or had been in receipt of rent supplement within the preceding 12 months of the date of claim for rent supplement.

HAP was introduced in Offaly in June 2015. A client residing in Offaly who wishes to apply for housing support must have their eligibility assessed by Offaly County Council.

The client referred to has not made a complete application for housing assessment to Offaly County Council. Additional information has been requested by the Council.

Policy in relation to applications for HAP across local authority areas and housing lists is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.