Rent supplements are payable under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is administered by the health boards on behalf of my Department. The purpose of a rent supplement is to provide assistance towards the reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source. A rent supplement is an income maintenance support and is not intended to address a person's long-term accommodation needs.
In determining entitlement to rent supplement a health board must be satisfied that the applicant has a genuine accommodation need and that the property being rented is suitable to those needs.
It would not, in normal circumstances, be deemed appropriate for a person who ordinarily resides on their own to receive rent supplement in respect of a two or three bedroom house.
Changes in household composition can affect the supplement in payment. If the size of the household increases there may be a need for larger accommodation which in turn may lead to an increase in the amount of supplement payable. On the other hand, if the household numbers decrease the suitability of the accommodation may need to be reviewed. This could arise, for example, if grown up children move away from the family home to attend university elsewhere and leave just one adult remaining in a two or three bedroom house. In such a case the remaining tenant would not necessarily have to move to accommodation suitable for single occupancy but would be offered the alternative of seeking additional tenants for the accommodation to spread the rent liability and enable him/her to remain on in his/her existing accommodation. However, if the person is unwilling or unable to make such an arrangement it may well be that he/she would be requested to secure more appropriate accommodation in order to retain entitlement to rent supplement.
