Rent supplement cut in budget ‘could increase homelessness’

CUTTING rent supplement in the December budget is unjustified and could lead to an increase in homelessness, a new campaign alliance has warned.

MakeRoom, an organisation made up of Focus Ireland, the Simon Community, the Saint Vincent de Paul and Threshold, said yesterday that rent supplement had already been cut twice in the last 12 months — and urged the Government not to do so again.

Speaking on behalf of the alliance campaign, Threshold chairwoman Aideen Hayden said the Government was justifying cuts by pointing to a decline in general market rents.

However, she said, there is no data to show that rent levels for the lower end of the market have decreased.

“Rent supplement is a vital safety net for many of our poorest households... It also supports people who have experienced homelessness to move on to independent living,” she said.

“Cutting this in the December budget will make it harder for people to keep up with their rent payments and could lead to more homelessness. There is widespread public sympathy for people who are unable to keep up with their mortgage payments, and we share these concerns but believe that they need to be widened to those people who rent their homes and risk losing them due to recession.”

In last year’s budget the minimum contribution to be made by tenants to landlords was increased from €14 to €18 per week.

In April’s supplementary budget, the minimum contribution was also further increased, from €18 to €24. The maximum rental amounts the Government is willing to pay was reduced by between 6% and 10%, and current rent supplement payments made to tenants was reduced by 8%.

MakeRoom argues that the combined impact of the changes to rent supplement in 2008 and 2009 has been to force greater economic hardship on many of the country’s poorest people.

“We are calling on the Department of Social and Family Affairs, in conjunction with the social partners, to conduct an impact assessment of the 2008 and 2009 changes to rent supplement on claimants before any further changes are considered,” the alliance said.

At least 91,000 people are currently claiming rent supplement, which has cost at least €340m so far this year.

Those in favour of reforming the scheme argue that people in receipt of the allowance must be urged to get a better deal from landlords in order to bring down the bill for the taxpayer.