COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE (1)

Monday, January 23, 2012

MOTION NO.

MOTION: Councillor M. Devine

That the Manager provide an update on the future of the Rent Supplement Scheme with reference to the Government’s Housing Policy and, if a pilot scheme is established, that the Springfield area be  prioritized for inclusion in this.

REPORT:

The Government’s Housing Policy Statement issued 13 June 2011 recognised that rent supplement, intended as a short-term income support, has become a de facto social housing support with many thousands of households reliant on the supplement to support accommodation costs for longer periods.  The Policy Statement indicatesthat the Government will rectify this by transferring responsibility for providing for the housing needs of long-term rent supplement recipients to housing authorities on a phased basis.

A Steering Group and 3 working groups (HousingPractitioners, IT and Finance) have been meeting over the past six months to identify issues that will need to be addressed to prepare legislation for the introduction of the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme. As the target date of 2013 is proposed for the transfer of RS these groups have been meeting regularly.

In order to identify the practical implications of rent supplement clients transferring over to local authorities it is proposed to pilot the scheme in a number of Local Authorities in the current year and this Council has volunteered to be part of that pilot.