Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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139. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of applications for rent supplement for 2020 and to date in 2021. [35358/21]

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 18,851 active recipients at the end of May 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.

For eleven months ending to November 2020 the number of rent supplement applications awarded was 12,613; the number of applications disallowed was 1,598. The number of applications received in the period December 2020 to date are not currently available.

The following table gives details of the number of Rent Supplement recipients at the end of each month for the period January 2020 to May 2021.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.