The rent supplement scheme is not working and the situation of the most vulnerable housholds is actually being made worse by the scheme, a report to be published today finds.
In their joint report, Rent Supplement in the Private Rented Sector, the housing charity Threshold and the citizens' information network, Comhairle, call for an "immediate review on the ceilings on rent supplements" and the introduction of a comprehensive housing benefit, covering all housing subsidies.
Low-income households are encountering enormous difficulties finding affordable housing, the charities say, made worse by "a limited and complex rent assistance scheme".
They say the rent levels set as "reasonable" by health boards in some parts of the country are "not keeping pace with current market conditions and related rent increases". Rent supplement is limited to the "reasonable rent" level set by health boards.
Both charities say their staff have encountered examples of landlords and tenants agreeing to declare a lower rent to community welfare officers so as to be eligible for the supplement, "which can land people in debt".
They express particular concern at the decision last November by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to freeze maximum rent ceilings, which "could have serious consequences for the most vulnerable".
Mr Tom Daly, chairman of Comhairle, said that while rent supplement had become a key instrument in social housing, it had happened in "an unplanned and unintegrated manner".
"In effect this scheme of 'last resort' has become a corner stone of social housing provision".
The report says: "Numerous difficulties were identified in the operation of the scheme, including landlords refusing to sign forms; the inability of some tenants to provide deposits; and community welfare officers facing the dilemma of refusing rent to properties below minimum standards, and ultimately making people homeless." There is also evidence, the report finds, that some landlords refuse to take rent supplement tenants.
The households encountering the worst difficulties under the rent supplement scheme are those with children, young adults, asylum-seekers and former local authority tenants.
In 2001, 45,000 people were in receipt of rent supplement, a figure that is likely to have increased. In 2001 the scheme cost the Exchequer €179.5 million. Lone parents accounted for 20 per cent of recipients and asylum-seekers 11 per cent.
The report concludes that a comprehensive housing benefit "covering all housing subsidies including the local authority differential rent scheme, is now long overdue".
Ms Aideen Hayden, chairwoman of Threshold, said a fair and inclusive system of social housing support had to be developed "for those who cannot compete for a home in the private market".
"Most urgently, the Department of Social and Family Affairs must instigate a review of the rent supplement ceilings to ensure no household has to endure emergency accommodation, overcrowding or financial distress because of the new regulations."
