Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2021
284. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the total number of rent support payments in lieu of rehousing made by her Department in each of the past six years to date; if a particular trend in terms of reliance on the payment has been identified; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48997/21]
View answerRent supplement continues to play a key role in supporting families and individuals in private rented accommodation, with the scheme currently supporting 15,939 active recipients at the end of August 2021.
The strategic goal of returning rent supplement to its original purpose - that of a short-term income support - has been primarily facilitated by the introduction of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). HAP has been successfully rolled out nationally, available in all local authorities, since March 2017. Since HAP's introduction, initially on a pilot basis in 2014, rent supplement recipient numbers have been declining as long-term rent supplement cases have migrated to local authority control primarily via HAP.
As part of the Government’s response to the pandemic, in March 2020, the conditions for receipt of rent supplement were relaxed and flexibilities introduced to enable those in the private rented sector who suffered a loss of employment or income due to the pandemic to access rent supplement. For 2020, the increase in rent supplement recipients for this year reflect these changes alongside the increased demand due to the Covid emergency.
The central tenet behind the Housing Assistance Payment was to identify and transfer those with long term reliance on rent supplement for their housing needs to a local authority sponsored solution whilst allowing rent supplement to revert to its originally intended role of providing short term income support to those temporarily unemployed.
The attached tabular statement shows the year on year reduction, from 2017 to 2019, the increase in 2020, and the reduction of recipient numbers in 2021 as HAP transfers continue and as Covid rent supplement recipients return to work.
Tabular Statement:
Rent Supplement: Recipient Numbers & Expenditure 2016 - 2021
|
Year |
Recipients |
Cost |
|
2016 |
48,041 |
€275.3m |
|
2017 |
34,378 |
€230.6m |
|
2018 |
24,303 |
€175.0m |
|
2019 |
16,781 |
€125.2m |
|
2020 |
19,304 |
€133.1m |
|
2021 to end August |
15,939* |
€89.8m** |
* Recipient numbers as at end August 2021
** Estimated Outturn to end August 2021
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
