Rent Supplement went rent is above the cap

Isolt

A month ago my partner left me and my daughter in a horrible situation. He took off for work one morning and didn't return. He left us in two months arrears with the rent despite telling me it had been paid. I cannot manage the rent alone but there are no other options right now as the rent I am paying is the average for this area.

I have applied for one parent family payment but was told it can take 3 to 6 months. In the meantime I am on jobseekers allowance.
I have applied for rent supplement as my rent alone costs more than I get in a month. The Community Welfare officer keeps delaying things though, for example she has requested the same bank statement twice, 5 days apart and she does everything in writing so it is really time consuming. She said my rent is too far above the RS cap and I need to find somewhere else.

I have attended house viewings and have tried negotiating with landlords but nobody is willing to rent below €700. The RS cap is €450. I know they can make an allowance at their discretion but it seems that everything I submit more info, the CWO asks for something else.
I've sent in letters from Treshold, Mabs, St Vincent de Paul and my letting agency verifying the urgency of my situation. I went to the council and they said ''there's not one hostel room in the county so you better find a solution''. Well, that's exactly what I am trying to do but I don't even have the rent for this month. The €217 I get per week is paying off arrears. I have missed out paying bills and were it not for SVP vouchers I wouldn't even have nappies for my baby. I wish the CWO understood the urgency of this situation instead of sending me letters all the time. Even when I went to see her, she didn't let me into her office and went through the forms with me in the main hall in front of everyone.

What happens if I am lucky enough to find somewhere cheaper? Will I have to reapply for rent supplement? Because Even if I found somewhere for €600 or €650 I'd still need some help rent wise. So if I were to bargain a landlord down into letting me rent somewhere cheaper would all of this effort with the CWO for rent supplement go to waste? Or could I use the RS for the new place?
I am so confused and wish I could just speak face to face with her instead of these letters and forms all the time! Exasperated

njs030

As far as I know rent allowance isn't transferable, you will need to reapply if you move. In terms of rent you might need to look elsewhere as 200+-300 extra is a large amount (over half again of your allowed amount) and while it's at their discretion you might do better if it was closer to the allowance.

If you feel it's going on too long you can contact the cwo supervisor and ask them to see what's happening.

misstearheus

Any chance there's a second C.W.O. or Department of Social Protection's Representative or whatever they're currently calling themselves covering your area? They mightn't be as active as the main one if they spend more time around their office so ya mightn't see them at all, but if there is, if there's any way to check or find out, they would have as equal a status as the other, but perhaps may turn out to be more in your favour per se....

FortySeven

You will need to chase that fecker who left you in that situation for maintenance. I believe it is a requirement for one parent. Get it in motion asap. He must pay his way.