Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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252. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if a single person that has access or joint custody of a child or children can access the family rate of the housing assistance payment. [11182/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, a household is defined as a person living alone, or two or more persons, who in the opinion of the local authority concerned, have a reasonable requirement to live together. Under the 2009 Act, it is also a matter for each housing authority to decide on the type of social housing support to be allocated or provided to individual households. In the case of the provision of social housing support under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme, the maximum prescribed HAP rent limits are defined by a number of household classes, as provided for under section 43 of the 2014 Act. As the housing authority, it is a matter for the local authority to determine the household class and level of support that should be applied in respect of a household that has been assessed as having a housing need.

Factors such as legally provided for custodial and access arrangements that may be in place will be considered in this context. As Minister, I am precluded by the 2009 Act from intervening in relation to the procedures followed, or decisions made, by housing authorities in the assessment of households, the allocation of particular dwellings and the provision of social housing supports.