Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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591. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if an entitlement to the current rate of RAS payment of a person will be affected in cases in which they receive an inheritance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2325/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Decisions on eligibility for social housing support, including the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), are a matter solely for local authorities with reference to eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations. The Regulations prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands according to the area concerned, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard Household Means Policy. My Department issued a guidance note to assist local authorities when applying the Household Means Policy which stated that savings are relevant to the income assessment only in so far as they generate an income for applicants, by way of dividend or interest. Should this inheritance generate an income by way of dividend or interest then it may be relevant to income assessment.

The Rental Accommodation Scheme, introduced in 2005, placed responsibility on local authorities to meet the accommodation needs of people in receipt of Rent Supplement for 18 months or longer, and who are assessed as having a long-term housing need. Under the Scheme rules, tenants are charged a rent contribution which is paid directly to the local authority who will determine that rent contribution by reference to its differential rents scheme and the tenant’s means.

Once a household is in receipt of social housing support, they are not generally subject to a reassessment of eligibility. However, where an individual’s financial circumstances change, and if the situation arose whereby an inheritance generated an income by way of dividend or interest then it may be relevant to income assessment, and the local authority may increase the level of tenant contribution in line with its differential rents scheme rules.