Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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137. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if a county or city manager can pass a review of differential council housing rents without the consent of the council members. [3315/17]

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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138. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the status of the proposed review of differential local authority housing rents postponed by the previous Minister. [3316/17]

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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139. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to any review of differential council housing rents in Cork county council. [3317/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 to 139, inclusive, together.

The making and amending of rent schemes is the responsibility of local authorities as an integral part of their housing management functions, subject to broad principles laid down by my Department in Circular letter HRT 3/2002 of 6 March 2002. The making or amending of such schemes is not a reserved function and does not require the approval of the elected members. There is no requirement for local authorities to inform my Department when reviewing a rent scheme.

Section 31 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 allows the Minister to make regulations in respect of various matters to be included in a rent scheme, including the sources of household income that may be assessed for the purpose of determining rent levels. Considerable work has been carried out by my Department in developing a draft framework for a harmonisation of the approach to be taken by local authorities in regard to various aspects of rent schemes. This work is now being examined further in the light of the broader commitment given in Rebuilding Ireland:Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, to review the disparate systems of differential rents for social housing in place across local authorities. The overall objective is to ensure that housing supports are fair and sustainable, prioritise those on lowest incomes and avoid creating social welfare traps that may prevent people from either returning to work or to the private housing market.I expect the review to be completed during Quarter 2 2017.