Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 July 2016
92. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of persons receiving the housing assistance payment, HAP, in each local authority; the average amount being paid to HAP recipients in each local authority area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21749/16]
View answer93. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of persons housed via the housing assistance payment from the homeless list in the Dublin region and each local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21750/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 93 together.
The implementation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a key Government priority and a major pillar of the Social Housing Strategy 2020. It is now available to all qualified households in 19 local authority areas with over 11,000 households supported since the scheme commenced.
With regard to the number of persons receiving the Housing Assistant Payment (HAP) in each local authority, my Department has made available on its website information on the number of persons receiving HAP in each local authority area for Q1 2016 at:
http://www.environ.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.
The information requested on the number of persons receiving HAP in each local authority area for Q2 2016 is being compiled and will be made available on my Department’s website as soon as possible.
Funding for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme has increased year on year, since it commenced in September 2014, in order to meet the continuing costs of existing HAP households, and the costs of additional households being supported. In 2016 Exchequer funding allocated to HAP was €47.7m. The majority of this funding is to support on-going rent payments to landlords in respect of existing HAP households and the cost of additional HAP tenancies as households find accommodation through the scheme during the year. Funding also includes the operational costs of the HAP Shared Service Centre and the costs of the HAP administrative payment made to local authorities operating the scheme.
The annualised cost of the average monthly rent paid to landlords in 2015 is estimated as €6,804. This is not a representative cost given the scheme’s distribution and phased introduction since September 2014. In the future, this average landlord payment cost will increase arising from the introduction of the revised maximum rent limits from 1 July 2016, as well as the additional flexibility in relation to the application of the rent limits that has been made available to local authorities to use when they deem necessary.
Under HAP, local authorities make payments, subject to rent limits, on behalf of the HAP recipient directly to the landlord in respect of rent. The HAP recipient will then pay a rent contribution to the local authority. The rent contribution is a differential rent – that is, a rent set by the local authority based on income and the ability to pay.
Under the HAP scheme, eligible households source their own accommodation in the private rented sector; this accommodation must be within the HAP rent limits, which are based on the size of the household and the rental market in the relevant local authority area.
The Homelessness Pilot of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme has been operational since February 2015 across the four housing authorities in the Dublin Region, i.e. Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council and is being implemented through the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE). The focus of the pilot scheme is to transition qualified households from emergency accommodation into private rented tenancies.
As of 11 July 2016, 475 homeless households, referred by the homeless units, including the Homeless HAP Pilot Scheme being managed by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, are being supported by the HAP scheme in the following local authority areas:
|
Local Authority |
HAP Tenancies Referred from Homeless Units |
|
Carlow County Council |
1 |
|
Clare County Council |
2 |
|
Cork City Council |
1 |
|
Cork County Council |
8 |
|
Galway City Council |
1 |
|
Galway County Council |
3 |
|
Kildare County Council |
12 |
|
Kilkenny County Council |
16 |
|
Limerick City & County Council |
13 |
|
Louth County Council |
27 |
|
Mayo County Council |
2 |
|
Monaghan County Council |
15 |
|
Offaly County Council |
4 |
|
Sligo County Council |
5 |
|
Tipperary County Council |
10 |
|
Waterford City & County Council |
27 |
|
Dublin Regional Homeless Executive |
328 |
|
Total |
475 |
