Wait for rent aid hits three months

MORE than 1,000 people in Cork city with insufficient means to meet accommodation costs face a three-month wait for rent supplement because of a change in how it is awarded.

The waiting time for support, however, is not as harsh in Dublin, Galway, Limerick or Waterford.

The change, announced in the supplementary budget last April and enforced since July 27, means applicants for social housing are no longer automatically entitled to rent supplement by virtue of the local authority simply certifying that they have applied.

Instead, anyone seeking social housing must first be assessed as eligible for and in need of housing by their local authority. It is only when this assessment is complete that an application for rent supplement can be made.

The requirement for an up-front assessment has created a backlog in Cork city where 1,100 social housing applicants are waiting three months to be assessed by Cork City Council. Those who are deemed eligible for the supplement do not receive back money.

A spokesperson for the council said it is “processing applications as fast as we can having regard to available resources”.

However, Cork North Central Labour Party TD Kathleen Lynch said those who desperately needed help paying rents were “forced to sleep on other people’s sofas” while waiting to be assessed.

“I am very worried that this situation will add to the city’s homelessness problem. It is outrageous,” Ms Lynch said.

The new assessment rule has also created waiting lists in other cities.

* Limerick City Council: 350 awaiting assessment for rent supplement. Waiting time 10 weeks.

* Dublin City Council: 470 face six-to-eight week wait for assessment. However, people who have lost their job and are in private rented accommodation may apply for rent supplement without having applied for social housing.

* Galway City Council: Assessment waiting time seven-to-eight weeks (down from three months).

* Waterford City Council: 34 applicants awaiting interview for rent supplement. Assessment waiting time two-to-three weeks.

A statement from the Department of Social and Family Affairs said the aim of the restriction on entitlement to rent supplement and the new working arrangements “is to ensure that the housing authorities remain the principal agents both for assessing housing needs and for meeting the long-term housing needs of persons”.

Rent supplement is paid to people living in private rented accommodation who cannot meet the cost from their own resources. In general, you qualify for a rent supplement if your only income is social welfare or a Health Services Executive (HSE) payment and if:

* You have resided in private rented accommodation or accommodation for homeless persons for 183 days within the preceding 12 months;

nor if an assessment of housing need has been carried out within the 12 months preceding the date of claim and the person is deemed to be eligible for social housing.