43 Ms Burton asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the housing authorities where the rental accommodation scheme is operating; the number of tenants who are in RAS accommodation; the number of such tenants who have been transferred to RAS from either local authority or voluntary or co-operative housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36497/06]
View answer67 Mr. English asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount his Department allocated to the rental accommodation scheme for 2005 and 2006; the amount spent in 2005 and to date in 2006; the problems associated with the scheme on a county basis; if he will make changes to the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36645/06]
View answer72 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of households transferred or allocated local authority housing to date under the rental accommodation scheme; if he is satisfied that the targets originally set for the scheme in 2004 are being met; the cost incurred in operation of the scheme to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36722/06]
View answer
I propose to take Questions Nos. 43, 67 and 72 together.
The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is designed to cater for the accommodation needs of persons in receipt of rent supplement who have a long-term housing need. It is a collaborative project between my Department, local authorities, the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Health Service Executive.
RAS operates in all housing authority areas. In some cases the County Council is managing the scheme for the County at large. Nearly all housing authorities are now mobilised and most have begun to transfer cases.
Good progress has been made in implementing RAS. To date over 12,000 cases [nearly 40% of the target group of recipients on rent supplement for more than 18 months] have been reviewed by local authorities for transfer to RAS, some 2,000 cases have actually been transferred to RAS accommodation (approx 25% to private rented sector accommodation and 75% within voluntary & co-operative sector) and an additional 1,500 rent supplement households have also been allocated local authority housing.
The amount spent to date on the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is of the order of €4.122 million. The breakdown is €164,836 in 2004, €723,280 in 2005, mainly on administrative and start up costs, and €3,234,000 to date in 2006. This funding is in addition to, and separate from, the ongoing capital funding provided to local authorities for the construction of new social housing units and the support of the voluntary and co-operative housing sector.
The RAS initiative is a major new direction for housing authorities and is being carefully monitored. Recent reports from the local authority based Programme Managers on their respective counties have indicated that the transfer of households from rent supplement to RAS is accelerating as authorities are overcoming difficulties they were encountering during initial stages. These problems mainly related to issues such as the unwillingness of some landlords to join RAS, poor quality of some private rented accommodation, tenancies not being registered with the PRTB, households living in overcrowded accommodation conditions and shortages of supply of particular types of accommodation in some areas.
I am satisfied at this early stage that RAS is meeting the objectives set for it by Government in July 2004. It has progressed from piloting to full local authority mobilisation and while the rate of transfer of households from rent supplement to the RAS had been slower than originally expected I am satisfied that good progress is being made on speeding up the transfer of cases and expect to see an acceleration of the rate of transfers to RAS of greater numbers of eligible households. In the future RAS will take a pivotal role in providing local authorities with solutions to a range of accommodation demands and will provide fresh options for local authorities to extend the range of social housing supports.
