The supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, scheme provides for a weekly or monthly supplement to be paid in respect of rent to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs.
The purpose of rent supplements is to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible persons living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source. For the purposes of determining entitlement to a rent supplement, rent is defined under the legislation. The definition excludes any payment made to a landlord in respect of services such as heating, lighting, maintenance, repairs and service charges.
Under the terms of the capital assistance scheme, CAS, capital grants ranging from 90 per cent to 95 per cent are made available by the Department of the Environment and Local Government, through local authorities, to approved voluntary bodies to provide accommodation for persons accepted as qualified for local authority housing. It is understood that the voluntary bodies are expected to raise the balance privately.
The CAS scheme and rent supplementation to its tenants were examined as part of the December 1995 Report of the Review Group on the Role of Supplementary Welfare Allowance, SWA, in relation to housing. It was noted that in addition to the non-repayable capital grants, subsidies were being paid under section 10 of the Housing Act, 1988, and SWA rent supplement was paid to the tenants. In the circumstances, it was decided to set a limit on the amount of rent supplement payable where the tenancy is in accommodation provided under the capital assistance scheme. This is set at £21 per week for a couple and £19 in any other case.
While I value the work done by voluntary housing bodies, I have no plans at present to change current legislation as I feel that in the interests of transparency and coherent public policy, State subsidies in respect of these long-term housing needs should be provided in a housing policy context through the local authorities, rather than in income maintenance policy context through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme.
