Housing Assistance Payment

Tuesday, 16 June 2020

Questions (1056, 1057, 1061)

Eoin Ó Broin

Question:

1056. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the expenditure on HAP in 2019. [10752/20]

View answer

Eoin Ó Broin

Question:

1057. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the expenditure on RAS in 2019. [10753/20]

View answer

1061. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the annual expenditure on HAP for each year that the payment has been in operation; and the amount spent to date in 2020 on HAP in tabular form. [10827/20]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1056, 1057 and 1061 together.

The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a flexible and immediate housing support that is now available to all eligible households throughout the State. The HAP scheme plays a vital role in housing eligible families and individuals, at the end of Q4 2019, over 71,000 HAP tenancies had been set-up since the scheme commenced, of which there were more than 52,500 households actively in receipt of HAP support.

The HAP scheme is funded through a combination of Exchequer monies and tenant differential rents collected in respect of HAP tenancies. The provisional Exchequer outturn for the HAP scheme in 2019 was €382 million. This allowed for the continued support of existing HAP households and also to enable an additional 16,760 households targeted under Rebuilding Ireland to be supported by HAP in 2019, as well as supporting the on-going roll-out of the HAP Place Finder Support Service across the country. The actual number of HAP tenancy setups in 2019 was 17,025.

Budget 2020 increased the Exchequer funding for the HAP scheme to €497.7 million. This will enable a further 15,750 households to be supported, as well as continuing support for the over 52,500 existing HAP tenancies in place at end 2019.

Exchequer funding for HAP for the period 2014 - 2020 is set out in the following table:

Year	No. of Local Authorities operating HAP Scheme	Outturn€M
2014	7	0.394
2015	18	15.64
2016	28	57.69
2017	31	152.69
2018	31	276.6
2019	31	382
2020	31	178.5 (to end May)

The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) was introduced in 2005 to meet the accommodation needs of people in receipt of Rent Supplement for 18 months or longer, and who were assessed as having a long-term housing need.

At the end of 2019, 18,154 households were supported by RAS and expenditure on the scheme in 2019 was just under €144.3m. Data for the years 2011 to 2019 on the number and cost of tenancies funded under the RAS scheme is available on my Department's website at the following link: www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.