Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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491. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he has directed his officials to examine reports that parents in receipt of the one-parent family payment and HAP are losing up to €25 per week due to a higher rent payment; the number of such instances by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20305/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The making and amending of rent schemes is the responsibility of housing 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.

Rent reviews are also a matter for individual housing authorities. Guidelines entitled “Rent Assessment, Collection, Accounting and Arrears Control” were published by the Housing Unit (which subsequently became part of the Housing Agency) in January 2001. These guidelines, developed in conjunction with my Department and the City and County Management Association, set out good practice in the administration of rent related matters. The Guidelines stated that local authorities should review the rent assessment of all existing tenants at least annually to ensure that all tenants are paying the correct rent and to update rents to reflect changes in tenants’ incomes and in housing management costs.

It will normally be a part of the tenancy agreement that the tenant should inform the local authority of any change in circumstances, including increases in family income. When this is done by the tenant, any change in rent that is warranted can be applied promptly.

The above Guidelines also state that arrangements for the repayment of rent arrears should be determined primarily by the tenants’ ability to pay.

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. 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 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 overall aim 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, taking account of the range of approaches to differential rents that have become established in different local authority areas. This review is scheduled to be completed before the end of Quarter 2 2017.