Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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71. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost of rent support payments in lieu of local authority housing made in the past five years to date; the potential for the replacement of such expenditure with directly built local authority houses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43575/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Rent supplement plays a vital role in supporting families and individuals in private rented accommodation, with the scheme supporting approximately 18,300 recipients for which the Government has provided €132.4 million for 2019.

The strategic goal of returning rent supplement to its original purpose; that of a short-term income support has been primarily facilitated by the introduction of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP).  HAP has been fully rolled out nationally, available in all local authorities, since March 2017.  It is expected that the vast majority of those who have long term housing needs and were receiving rent supplement support will have transferred to HAP by the end of December 2020.  

Highlighting the ongoing HAP transfer programme, the attached tabular statement shows the year on year reduction, from 2014 to date, for both rent supplement customer numbers and its associated outturn.

Rent supplement’s role, post the HAP migration programme, will be to provide support to those who have become temporarily unemployed and require support paying their rent whilst seeking alternative employment.  It is not intended for rent supplement to provide long term housing solutions to customers.

Matters in relation to housing, and in particular for the opportunity costs or benefits in directing rent supplement expenditure to the building of local authority houses, and / or the provision of capital spend for the provision of social housing versus rent supplement outturn, are a matter for my colleague the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government.  

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Tabular Statement:

Rent Supplement:  Recipient Numbers & Expenditure 2014 - 2019

*Recipient numbers as at end September 2019

**Estimated Outturn to December 2019