Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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312. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the status of the nationwide harmonisation of rents for local authority tenants; the studies that his Department has conducted on this; his plans in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16140/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Considerable work has been carried out by my Department over recent years 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 includes providing for a common set of income disregards to be applied by all housing authorities in determining a household’s assessable income for rent calculation purposes.

These proposals are now being examined further in the light of the broader commitment given in  the 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 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 this review to be completed by the end of Quarter 2 2017.