Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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133. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of rent supplement claimants on 31 December 2020, by local authority area; the average cost of a claim in each area; and the cost per week and in total for 2020. [6306/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Rent supplement continues to play a key role in supporting families and individuals in private rented accommodation, with the scheme supporting 19,700 active recipients as at 31st January 2021.

The scheme provides short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.  The scheme ensures that those who were renting, but whose circumstances have changed due to temporary loss of employment or income, can continue to meet their rental commitments.

Since the introduction of HAP, rent supplement continues to revert to its original role of providing short-term support to those who have become temporarily unemployed and require income support to meet their tenancy cost whilst they seek alternative employment.  Rent supplement's outturn by local authority and associated weekly costs are not maintained; however, a tabular statement providing a county breakdown and average monthly rent supplement tenancy costs for these counties are provided as at end December 2020.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.