Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) has been an important contributor to social housing supply since its introduction on a pilot basis in 2005. RAS  involves a three-way relationship between (1) the housing authority and landlord - where the local authority enters into a contractual arrangement with the property owner to make the property available to the RAS for an agreed term; (2) the landlord and tenant - where the eligible RAS tenant, nominated by the housing authority, signs a residential tenancy agreement with the landlord; and (3) the housing authority and tenant - where the RAS tenant pays a differential rent to the local authority and the local authority makes payments to the landlord on the tenant's behalf.

The number of RAS properties, broken down by local authority area, unoccupied for a period of more than 3-months during 2016 is set out in the following table.  My Department does not recoup payment to any local authority for any RAS property, where that property has been vacant for longer than a 3-month period.  The total number of vacancies (83) in 2016 is low when viewed against 20,306 active tenancies supported by RAS at the end of 2016.  There are a number of reasons as to why properties may be vacant for a time including where the local authority undertakes works to bring the property up to the required standard for a new tenant or where negotiations with landlords on rent reviews or new contract rates become protracted.

RAS Units Vacant for 3 consecutive months - 2016

Data on 2017 RAS vacancies is currently being collated by my Department. Data on 2018 RAS vacancies is not yet available.

I have provided €134.3 million in Budget 2018 to support the cost of RAS. Monies are provided on an Exchequer neutral basis to meet the costs of persons transferring from the Rent Supplement (RS) Scheme to RAS. This funding will go towards supporting 600 additional RAS tenancies in 2018 and the on-going costs of RAS contracts in place at end 2017.

I will continue to keep the RAS scheme under review.  While the management of individual RAS properties is a matter for each individual local authority, I am generally satisfied with the operation of the RAS scheme and I see it as an important tool in meeting the ambitious social housing delivery targets set under Rebuilding Ireland.