Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 June 2015
228. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide, in tabular form, a breakdown of the cost to the State of providing the rental accommodation scheme, the housing assistance payment and social leasing schemes in 2014 and to date in 2015. [24164/15]
View answer229. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the current number of recipients under the rental accommodation scheme; the housing assistance payment; and social leasing support. [24165/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 228 and 229 together.
The information requested in relation to the cost of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SCHEP) and Rental Accommodation Scheme for the year 2014 and to date in 2015 is set out in the following table.
|
Scheme |
2014 |
2015 |
|
Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) |
€394,472.90 |
€2,824,827.78 (end of May 2015) |
|
Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SCHEP) |
*€34,844,781 |
*€6,345,473 (end of May 2015) |
|
Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) |
€133,512,889 |
**€32,626,562.72 (end of March 2015) |
* This excludes capital advances under the Capital Advanced Leasing Facility (CALF). Under CALF, €4,827,997 was advanced in 2014 with a further €1,010,838 to the end of May 2015.
** Rental Accommodation Scheme figures available to end of March only.
There are now more than 2,200 households in receipt of HAP across the local authority areas taking part in the statutory pilot scheme.
As of 31 May 2015, under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), previously referred to as the leasing programme, 6,085 units are deemed operational with the units tenanted or in the process of being tenanted. A further 1,698 units have received full funding approval and are at the point where legal agreements and negotiations are being finalised. A range of types of units are sourced under the programme. My Department holds statistics on units sourced for the programme but does not hold statistics on the number of persons in receipt of housing support by programme.
From the commencement of the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) in late 2005 to 31 March 2015, some 52,529 households have been transferred from Rent Supplement to RAS and other social housing options. My Department does not hold information on the number of households in RAS at any given time. Numbers in RAS constantly vary as contracts end, tenants move on to other properties, landlords withdraw from the Scheme, new tenancies are allocated or vacancies in contracted units are filled. However, according to returns from individual local authorities, it is estimated that there were approximately 20,473 RAS tenancies in place on 31 December 2014.
