Dessie Ellis
Question:320. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of persons on HAP by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23702/21]
View answerDáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 May 2021
320. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of persons on HAP by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23702/21]
View answer322. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the cost of supporting HAP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23704/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 320 and 322 together.
The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support for people who have a long-term housing need. In order for a household to qualify for HAP, they must first be assessed as eligible for social housing support by their local authority. Any household assessed as eligible for social housing is immediately eligible for HAP and those households must source their own accommodation in the private rental sector.
The table below shows the number of households at the end of 2020, broken down by local authority, who are in receipt of HAP support.
Local Authority |
Total Active HAP Tenancies |
Carlow County Council |
743 |
Cavan County Council |
429 |
Clare County Council |
1,423 |
Cork City Council |
3,133 |
Cork County Council |
3,722 |
Donegal County Council |
1,833 |
Dublin City Council |
4,863 |
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council |
735 |
Fingal County Council |
2,089 |
Galway City Council |
1,951 |
Galway County Council |
1,428 |
Kerry County Council |
1,623 |
Kildare County Council |
2,398 |
Kilkenny County Council |
854 |
Laois County Council |
982 |
Leitrim County Council |
293 |
Limerick City & County Council |
2,442 |
Longford County Council |
379 |
Louth County Council |
3,280 |
Mayo County Council |
1,356 |
Meath County Council |
2,275 |
Monaghan County Council |
628 |
Offaly County Council |
877 |
Roscommon County Council |
468 |
Sligo County Council |
831 |
South Dublin County Council |
2,936 |
Tipperary County Council |
1,868 |
Waterford City & County Council |
2,127 |
Westmeath County Council |
1,014 |
Wexford County Council |
1,613 |
Wicklow County Council |
1,668 |
Subtotal |
52,261 |
Dublin Regional Homeless Executive* |
7,560 |
Grand Total |
59,821 |
*The DRHE is operating the HAP Homeless Place Finder Service on behalf of the four Dublin local authorities.
The cost of supporting the HAP Scheme to the Exchequer is outlined in the table below
Year |
Additional Households supported at end of year |
No. of LAs operating HAP Scheme |
Outturn €M |
2014 |
485 |
7 |
0.39 |
2015 |
5,680 |
18 |
15.64 |
2016 |
12,075 |
28 |
57.69 |
2017 |
17,916 |
31 |
152.69 |
2018 |
17,926 |
31 |
276.6 |
2019 |
17,025 |
31 |
382.4 |
2020 |
15,885 |
31 |
464.6 |
Budget 2021 increased the Exchequer funding for the HAP scheme to €558 million. This will allow for the continued support of existing HAP households and also enable an additional 15,000 households to be supported by HAP in 2021.