I propose to take Questions Nos. 578 and 579 together.
Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting some 32,450 recipients for which the Government has provided €180 million for 2018. The number of rent supplement recipients as at end of December 2017 and February, 2018 is provided in the following tabular statement. Recipient numbers for Cork are also provided, however analysis of rent supplement tenancies by local electoral area is not maintained.
The Deputy will be aware that the strategic policy direction of the Department is to return rent supplement to its original purpose of being a short-term income support with the introduction of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme. HAP is available nationwide from 1 March 2017, and there are currently some 33,750 active HAP tenancies in place of which over 9,240 were direct transfers from rent supplement. The number of rent supplement tenancies transferred to HAP during 2017 is not maintained by the Department.
Officials in my Department continue to work closely with the Local Authorities to support the transfer of long term rent supplement recipients to HAP.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Table 1: Rent Supplement Recipient Numbers
Year
|
Total Recipients
|
Cork Recipients
|
31 Dec 2017
|
34,378
|
3,578
|
28 Feb 2018
|
32,450
|
3,401
|