Written Answers Nos. 121 - 128
122. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the fact that at present a person in receipt of rent supplement is able to not pay the rent to their landlord, that her Department can be aware that this is happening, but no action can be taken by her Department to stop a person receiving the rent supplement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22013/13]
View answer123. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider introducing a system whereby landlords would have to sign off each month to show that they have received rent from a tenant in receipt of rent supplement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22014/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 122 and 123 together.
The purpose of rent supplement 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 86,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €403 million for 2013.
Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant; the tenant makes the application for rent supplement and payment is made to the tenant. Rent supplement is specifically for the benefit of tenants to assist them with their accommodation needs. There is no direct relationship between the landlord and the Department in the administration of the scheme. However, social welfare legislation provides for the payment of a rent supplement payment to a nominated payee such as a landlord on behalf of the tenant. This arrangement is entered at the tenant’s request and subject to the consent of the Department. The official dealing with the request will take into account all the relevant circumstances of the particular case and the tenant’s preference will be accommodated where possible.
It is open to the landlord to bring to the attention of the Department any instance where they suspect that a tenant is receiving rent supplement and is not paying their rent. Where the Department becomes aware that a person is not using rent supplement to meet the accommodation costs, payment of the supplement is suspended and the matter investigated. Where a landlord has a grievance in relation to the non-payment of rent by a tenant, s/he may apply to the Private Residential Tenancies Board to have the dispute resolved through the Board’s dispute resolution process.
The Department has no plans to implement a system whereby landlords would have to sign off each month showing that they have received rent from a rent supplement recipient. The efficiency of the scheme would be significantly affected if the Department had to create a formal relationship with all landlords, for what should be only a short term need.
The Government has approved in principle the transfer of responsibility for the provision of rental assistance to persons with a long term housing need from this Department to housing authorities using a new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). Under the proposed arrangements for HAP, landlords will receive the rent for the property directly from the housing authority. The Department is working closely with officials from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government in developing proposals to give effect to this transfer.
124. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount of travel and subsistence both foreign and domestic claimed by each junior Minister and Secretary General in her Department for the period 2007 to date in 2013; the number of staff appointed by each Minister and junior Minister in her Department or constituency office and their relevant cost including travel and subsistence in each case for the period 2007 to date in 2013; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22042/13]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy is currently being compiled and will be sent to him as soon as possible.
127. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will disclose the full details of the web traffic for the Citizens Information Board's website keepingyourhome.ie, detailing unique visitors, page-views, bouncerates, average visit duration, new versus returning visitors, traffic sources, page popularity and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22111/13]
View answerThe Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service was established to provide a comprehensive and coordinated approach to assist people in mortgage distress.
The website www.keepingyourhome.ie was substantially redesigned and now acts as the key online access portal for comprehensive mortgage arrears information. It is one of the two measures set up to provide mortgage information, the other was the establishment of a Mortgage Arrears Information Helpline within the Citizens Information Board. Both services focus on the provision of comprehensive mortgage arrears information in particular to people in arrears or pre-arrears. The third element of the service is the provision of independent financial advice to mortgage holders who are being presented with long term mortgage resolution proposals by their lenders.
The following details the web traffic to the site since its enhancement in June 2012:
|
Month |
Unique visitors |
Number of visits |
Pageviews |
Average pageviews per visit |
Average duration of visit |
|
Jun 2012 |
3,330 |
4,832 |
18,968 |
3.92 |
3m 37 sec |
|
Jul 2012 |
3,771 |
5,270 |
22,049 |
4.18 |
3m 45 sec |
|
Aug 2012 |
3,709 |
5,248 |
20,088 |
3.82 |
4m 02 sec |
|
Sep 2012 |
6,235 |
9,056 |
37,232 |
4.11 |
4m 19 sec |
|
Oct 2012 |
6,398 |
8,951 |
33,555 |
3.74 |
3m 59 sec |
|
Nov 2012 |
4,947 |
6,971 |
29,244 |
4.19 |
3m 56 sec |
|
Dec 2012 |
4,521 |
6,858 |
24,997 |
3.64 |
4m 18 sec |
|
Jan 2013 |
7,477 |
10,676 |
32,628 |
3.05 |
3m 14 sec |
|
Feb 2013 |
6,971 |
10,145 |
32,268 |
3.18 |
3m 14 sec |
|
Mar 2013 |
8,661 |
13,005 |
46,387 |
3.56 |
3m 51sec |
|
Apr 2013 |
10,632 |
16,297 |
64,774 |
3.97 |
5m 03 sec |
There is no information available on new v. returning visitors or on bounce rates.
Over 55% of visitors come to the site directly, about 25% are referred from other sites such as mabs.ie, citizensinformation.ie and nca.ie (National Consumer Agency) and the remainder come via search engines, such as Google and Bing.
After the homepage of the site, the five most popular pages in April were:
Overview: For Homeowners
Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP)
Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service: Panel of Accountants
Overview: Problem Debt
Mortgage Arrears
The increasing use of the website indicates the value that people are receiving from this service. The CIB place great emphasis on ensuring that the information on the website is continuously monitored and kept current.
128. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which rental accommodation exists to meet the requirements of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22115/13]
View answerThe person concerned was, until the end of March 2013, paid Rent Supplement in County Kildare, at an address that the person themselves secured (in an area for which they listed two previous addresses) and which was, within the current rent limits for an adult and three young children.
We have not received a new application for Rent Supplement from the person concerned.
