The Government has decided in principle to introduce a new local authority rent assistance scheme which will, in the main, replace the current arrangements for rent supplementation under the Supplementary Allowances Scheme. "This is a landmark decision," the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, and the Minister for Housing, Mr Molloy, said yesterday, though they warned the new measures would take at least two years to come into effect.
The ministers said a special planning group would be established to report within six months on details of new rent assistance arrangements. "Getting the changeover right is much more important than doing it quickly," they added.
The decision follows a report, commissioned in 1996, to consider the issues relating to the possible transfer of the administration of rent and mortgage interest supplementation from health boards to local authorities. The report, published yesterday, recommends that rent assistance should be integrated, as far as possible, with other social housing options.
The report's main overall recommendation is that rent assistance should generally be provided by local authorities as part of, and integrated into, housing policy.
The report concludes that mortgage interest supplements and short-term rent supplementation for those who already have rented accommodation but become unable to pay the rent - through loss of employment, for example - should remain part of the welfare system.
The recommendations acknowledge that there are significant implications which must be fully addressed so those in need do not suffer.
The report notes a number of submissions from public representatives complaining of instances where people who were evicted from local authority houses on grounds of anti-social behaviour were rehoused by their health board with rent assistance.