Vol. 401 No. 1
21 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Social Welfare the progress which has been made towards the implementation of a nationally uniform, statutorily based housing benefit as recommended by the Commission on Social Welfare; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
There are a number of schemes in operation which provide assistance with housing costs. Under the social welfare code there are provisions in the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to assist householders in difficulties with either rent or mortgage repayments. There is also a special allowance scheme for tenants who were affected by the decontrol of rents in 1982.
Other schemes which assist with housing costs include the differential rent schemes for tenants in local authority housing and mortgage interest tax relief for owner-occupiers.
The commission on social welfare recognised the difficulties involved and recommended housing benefit as a long-term, rather than an immediate, objective. The commission recommended that priority should be given to increasing social welfare rates generally. In recent years very substantial increases in social welfare payments, particularly for those on the lowest rates, have been introduced.
The integration of all existing arrangements into a single housing benefit scheme would be very complex and would have wide-ranging financial and other implications. There are no plans at present for the introduction of such a scheme.
