Senior civil servants warned there was a “very real moral hazard” of tenants not paying their rent if emergency social welfare payments were provided to cover rent arrears, documents show. The Department of Social Protection provides a supplementary welfare allowance to social welfare recipients to cover emergency once-off expenditure above ordinary welfare payments. Last year the department spent €1.6 million on 1,900 emergency payments to cover tenants’ rent arrears. The Housing Assistance Payment is a welfare payment tenants in the private market receive to cover part of their rent. The scheme “was not appropriate as a broad approach” for tenants who fall into arrears on their rent, she said.

Source: The Irish Times October 14, 2019 00:56 UTC