RENT SUPPLEMENT payments are made by the State to persons who rent private accommodation but are unable to afford the cost.
About 95,000 households are supported by the rent supplement scheme, which means that, in effect, the Department of Social Protection funds about 50 per cent of the private rented accommodation in the country.
The Department of Social Protection is responsible for policy, legislation and the provision of funding for the scheme.
However, claims for payment of rent supplements are processed and administered by community welfare staff employed by the Health Service Executive.
Under the Croke Park agreement, these staff are moving from the Health Service Executive to the Department of Social Protection.
The purpose of the payment is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.
The payments are means tested.
The amount of rent supplement a person can receive from the State depends on where they live in the country, their personal circumstances and what type of accommodation they have.
The State’s bill for rent supplements has soared over the last decade or so on foot of a significant increase in the number of recipients.
In 2000, the amount paid out was €151 million. By 2009, this figure had risen to about €500 million.
Last year, the then minister for social and family affairs Éamon Ó Cuív set new rent limits to be paid under the scheme in a bid to reflect falls in market prices. He said this move would save the State €20 million.
The current monthly rate for the single person rent supplement (in non-shared accommodation) ranges from €368-€529.
The monthly rate for a couple/one parent family with one child ranges from €400-€930. With three children it ranges from €500-€1,100.
In 2005, the Dáil’s spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General, issued a report which contained some significant critical findings in relation to the operation of the scheme.
The report said the department set rent limits as a means of controlling the level of expenditure on rent supplements. It said different limits applied for different household types and different areas, reflecting the variation that occurs in market rents.
“In 2005, rent limits were generally at, or a little below, corresponding average market rates. In practice, tenants (and landlords) have little incentive to agree rents below the rent limit levels.
“At the end of 2005, 84 per cent of rent supplement recipients were paying rents equivalent to the relevant rent limit.
“Given the number of households dependent on rent supplement, and a combined expenditure on rent estimated at around €440 million a year, the department should have considerable potential to influence market rents in certain segments of the market, through the rent limits it sets.”
