Rent Supplement Appeal-Disgrace

voxbot

Hello all,

I applied for rent supplement to the Centralised Rent Unit in April and was refused in June on a minute detail. The same day, I sent in my appeal to the Appeals Office. I received a letter in 17th June saying they had received my letter and that they had requested my file from the CWO. I've been patiently waiting for 2 months to hear back and I'm currently applying for a student grant so I contacted the Appeals Office for a copy of some bank statements I'd sent them. I get a reply saying they don't even have my file because the Superintendent CWO hadn't sent it yet! I contacted the Centralised Rents Unit and they said the Appeals Office NEVER REQUESTED IT. Which means they lied in their letter and haven't done anything in 2 months.

I'm at my wits end. What can I do? I sent them an email complaining and demanding they prioritise my claim, but will this work? I'm literally so broke, is there any way I can go to a local CWO in Rialto, separate to the CRU and get some money to tide me over til this is sorted? And does anyone know the average wait on a rent supplement appeal?

Thanks for any advice, I've literally been in tears all day over this. Months of stress and scraping by has finally got to me.

Balagan

I am not sure how this Centralised Rent Unit you refer to works but there had been a step you could take before an appeal in that you were given a chance to state your case again to the CWO and provide documentation etc.,

Appealing a decision made by the Community Welfare Officer (CWO)
If you are not satisfied with a decision made in relation to Rent Supplement, you should first find out why the decision was made by asking the Community Welfare Officer. If you have any extra documentation to back up your case, give this to the Community Welfare Officer.

If you are still unhappy, you can discuss the decision with the Superintendent Community Welfare Officer. They can change the decision if necessary.

If the decision is not changed, then request an appeal form. Include as much detail as possible in your appeal and keep photocopies of everything.

If your appeal is unsuccessful, you can refer the appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. You may request a personal hearing and you can bring along a representative to help argue your case.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/rent_supplement.html

Maybe it is possible that if you take all the documentation, including the reason for refusal and whatever you have to prove that that decision was incorrect into your local CWO then he/she may be able to circumvent the appeals process.

Remember that the St Vincent de Paul http://www.svp.ie/contact-us.aspx will help you keep body and soul together until this is sorted. Best of luck.

voxbot

Thanks for your advice.

However in my case, because the rent supplement application goes through the CRU, the process is different. The letter of refusal I received was signed by the Superintendent CWO. On the letter it said I had to send my appeal to the appeal office.

This is just so frustrating. Neither office answer their phones and any email I send is either ignored or I receive a one-line vague answer.

Looks like I'll have to move house. I can't wait indefinitely for an answer that might never come.

Slydice

Can someone explain what the CRU is all about?

I thought rent allowance came from CWOs in SW offices.

voxbot, can you give any more details on your situation. Based on other threads I've read on this board, it's hard to guess what you're entitled to without knowing more about your circumstances.

Balagan

I'd not heard of the Centralised Unit but found the following:


To apply for Rent Supplement you should contact the Community Welfare Officer at your local health centre.

However in some areas of Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow new Rent Supplement applications are being taken by centralised Rent Units. You can find out what areas have a centralised Rent Unit on the communitywelfare.ie website.

If you live in one of these areas you do not need to be assessed by your local CWO. You can get a rent pack from your local health centre. This pack contains detailed information (including a list of documentation you will need) and all the relevant application forms. You should read the information in the pack carefully. If you are satisfied that you have all the necessary documents ready you can forward your application to the relevant Rent Unit. The processing of your application may be delayed if you do not supply all the information requested in the pack. The Unit will contact you if they need any further information. If they do not need any more information they will tell you when your application will be processed.
http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/SupplementaryWelfareAllowance/Pages/RentSupplement.aspx
+
http://communitywelfareservice.ie/cws_public/content/rent-supplement

daviddwyer

Went through the same with CRU.

Was refused last week in June 2010, and finally got appeal hearing on Dec 8th.

Got awarded RA on appeal and got payment (including arrears) in Jan 2011.

Am hoping for you that the waiting time is less now.

If CWO is no help. try SVdP - they cant help with rent but can help with other expenses, therefore freeing up your cash for rent