Under the terms of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards, payment of a weekly or monthly supplement may be made in respect of rent to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs after they pay their rent. The purpose of the supplementary welfare scheme is to deal with emergencies and short-term needs that arise when a person has a change in circumstances, for example when a tenant becomes unemployed and can no longer afford their rent.
Rent supplements were never intended to meet a person's long-term housing needs. Despite this the scheme has, over the years, become in effect a form of housing support. It does not make sense to have two parallel but entirely separate programmes one operated by the housing authorities and the other by the health boards. The rent supplement scheme does not give a good long-term outcome to individuals. They have limited security of tenure, accommodation standards can sometimes be poor and they must remain on social welfare in order to retain their accommodation. The scheme does not give a good outcome to the State either as it provides poor long-term value for money and in effect it by-passes the priorities set by the local authorities in their housing programmes.
This is why I have taken a number of initiatives in this area, including the provision that a person must have been renting for six months. Rent supplement will be payable only where the person has been in rented accommodation for a period of six months at the time of application. Provision will be made for cases where a housing authority designates that a person is homeless, or a person has been identified by a housing authority as having a housing need which cannot be met by the housing authority, a voluntary housing organisation or by the person concerned. This will help re-focus the rent supplement scheme on its original objective of short-term income maintenance.
In the course of implementing these measures, particular care will be taken to ensure that the interests of vulnerable groups, such as the homeless, the elderly and people with disabilities are fully protected. The measures will be implemented in the context of a greater role for housing authorities in meeting the long-term housing needs of people who currently rely on rent supplement, particularly the vulnerable groups mentioned.
