Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
716. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing assistance payment recipients in counties Longford and Westmeath who have received the full discretionary HAP rates (details supplied) per town in tabular form. [40891/22]
View answerThe 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 accommodation sourced by tenants should be within the prescribed maximum HAP rent limits, which are based on household size and the rental market within the area concerned.
The Programme for Government commits to ensuring that HAP levels are adequate to support vulnerable households, while the supply of social housing increases.
Under Housing for All, the Department was tasked with undertaking an analytical exercise to examine whether an increase in the level of discretion available to Local Authorities under HAP is required. The Housing Agency undertook to carry out this analytical exercise on behalf of the Department to better understand what level of discretion should be made available to Local Authorities under HAP to maintain adequate levels of support.
Following receipt and analysis of this review, I, in cooperation with Government colleagues and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, have now approved an increase in the HAP discretion rate from 20% to 35% and for new tenancies to extend the couple’s rate to single person households. This will secure more tenancies and prevent new entries to homelessness. Both these measures came into effect from 11 July 2022.
Each local authority now has statutory discretion to agree to a HAP payment up to 35% above the prescribed maximum rent limit to secure appropriate accommodation for a household that requires it, or up to 50% in the case of homeless households in the Dublin region.
At the end of Q1 2022, the use of discretion for Longford and Westmeath was 54.2% and 42.8% respectively, while the level of discretion was 19.2% and 17.2% respectively for the relevant counties.
The tables below detail discretion by municipal districts, Q1 2022.
Westmeath discretion by municipal area - Q1 2022
|
Municipal Area |
Active Tenancies end Q1 2022 |
No. of tenancies that received discretion |
Average Discretion Rate |
|
Athlone |
365 |
152 |
18% |
|
Mullingar |
545 |
205 |
17% |
|
Other MAs outside LA* |
64 |
30 |
17% |
Longford discretion by municipal area - Q1 2022
|
Municipal Area |
Active Tenancies end Q1 2022 |
No. of tenancies that received discretion |
Average Discretion Rate |
|
Ballymahon |
93 |
55 |
19% |
|
Granard |
27 |
10 |
16% |
|
Longford |
217 |
113 |
19% |
|
Other MDs outside LA* |
36 |
18 |
19% |
* Inter-authority movements, whilst the tenant is registered with Longford or Westmeath County Councils, the tenancy is located outside of the county.
It is a matter for the local authority to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether, and to what extent, the application of the flexibility is warranted although it should be noted that local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that tenancies are sustainable.
I am committed to decreasing our reliance on the HAP scheme and we will only do that through significantly scaling up our social housing supply. ‘Housing for all’ sets us on a pathway to delivering 90,000 social homes between now and the end of 2030 including 9,000 this year.
