Rent Supplement Update – 23 October 2012

To the Minister for Social Protection

To ask the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 367 and 368 of the 16 of October 2012, if she has examined the considerable hardship now caused to single person’s due to the differentiation between rent supplement rates and market rent rates within the Kildare area; if she has any immediate plans to address this discrepancy within the rent supplement programme with particular reference to anecdotal evidence of “topping up” whereby tenants are forced into a position to give additional money to their landlords because the rent supplement rates are too low; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

– Bernard J. Durkan.

R E P L Y

Minister for Social Protection (Joan Burton T.D):

The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term 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 overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer. There are currently approximately 90,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided €436 million for 2012.

Rent supplement is calculated to ensure that the person, after payment of rent, has an income equal to the basic supplementary welfare allowance rate, less a specified weekly minimum contribution which recipients are required to pay from their own resources.

The “top up” payments referred to fall into two specific categories. Where a person has an additional income above the rate of supplementary welfare allowance they are, in certain circumstances, allowed to top up their rent as they will still have sufficient income to meet their basic needs after paying their rent.

The second type of top up payment can occur where the application to the Department declares a rent lower than that actually being charged by the landlord. Any instance of false declarations should be reported to the relevant Department representatives who have specific legislative powers to deal with such offences. There has been no evidence presented to the Department showing widespread or systemic ‘false declarations’ of rent supplement through the use of illegal top-ups.

Analysis shows that for County Kildare, there are properties available within the maximum rent limits for rent supplement recipients, including rental properties available to single persons. Department officials dealing with rent supplement tenants will continue to ensure that their accommodation needs are met and that the residence is reasonably suited to their residential and other needs.

Officials in my Department continue to examine the impact of the rent limits on those who claim rent supplement but at this stage I have no plans to revise the existing rent limits. The next review of rent limits will take place before June 2013 and any changes to the limits in County Kildare will be considered as part of this review.

ENDS