Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme currently supporting approximately 63,000 people. A breakdown of rent supplement recipients on a county basis is provided in the tabular statement below. Over 17,200 rent supplement tenancies have been awarded this year, of which approximately 5,600 are in Dublin.
Over €298 million has been committed for rent supplement for 2015 - which represents a transfer of funding in excess of €20 million to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to support the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). Expenditure to date in 2015 is in excess of €260 million and a monthly breakdown of expenditure is provided in the attached tabular statement. Expenditure on the scheme for 2014 was some €338 million.
Rent supplement is a demand-led scheme and Government will continue to ensure that the necessary funding for the scheme is in place.
Table 1: Rent Supplement Recipients by County, End October 2015
County
|
Recipients
|
CARLOW
|
1,014
|
CAVAN
|
387
|
CLARE
|
1,110
|
CORK
|
7,013
|
DONEGAL
|
1,409
|
DUBLIN
|
24,097
|
GALWAY
|
3,339
|
KERRY
|
1,631
|
KILDARE
|
3,489
|
KILKENNY
|
590
|
LAOIS
|
971
|
LEITRIM
|
326
|
LIMERICK
|
1,651
|
LONGFORD
|
405
|
LOUTH
|
1,571
|
MAYO
|
1,546
|
MEATH
|
1,538
|
MONAGHAN
|
272
|
OFFALY
|
871
|
ROSCOMMON
|
624
|
SLIGO
|
484
|
TIPPERARY
|
1,763
|
WATERFORD
|
1,008
|
WESTMEATH
|
1,429
|
WEXFORD
|
2,321
|
WICKLOW
|
2,017
|
Total
|
62,876
|
Table 2: Rent Supplement: Expenditure: January 2015 To Date
Month in 2015
|
Cost €000
|
January
|
27,749
|
February
|
25,734
|
March
|
26,825
|
April
|
26,881
|
May
|
26,023
|
June
|
25,444
|
July
|
26,784
|
August
|
24,623
|
September
|
25,141
|
October
|
25,637
|
Total
|
260,841
|