Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 January 2014
488. Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the rental accommodation scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55318/13]
View answerThe Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is targeted at those households who have been in receipt of Rent Supplement from the Department of Social Protection for 18 months or more and who have been assessed by a housing authority as having a long-term housing need. Decisions on the eligibility of specific persons for social housing support, which includes RAS, are a matter solely for the housing authority concerned.
Being a recipient of RAS does not debar an individual from taking up any form of employment. The essence of the scheme is that the full and contracted rent for the accommodation provided to a household is paid in full by the housing authority to the landlord. RAS tenants for their part make a specific contribution to the housing authority based on the authority’s own Differential Rents Scheme. RAS therefore does not act as a disincentive to work.
In the context of an individual’s eligibility for social housing support generally, the provisions of the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 set out the procedures for the assessment of applicants for social housing support. Regulation 22(1) of the 2011 Regulations provides that a household with alternative accommodation that would meet its housing need is ineligible for social housing support. Paragraph (2) of the Regulation clarifies that paragraph (1) does not operate to exclude from eligibility for social housing support an applicant who owns accommodation that is occupied by his or her spouse, from whom he or she is formally separated or divorced. Under the enactment, a deed of separation is sufficient to set aside this ineligibility ground and it is not necessary to await judicial separation or divorce to get a decision on social housing support in these cases.
Finally, eligibility for Rent Supplement and to its continued receipt is entirely a matter for my colleague the Minister for Social Protection.
