Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
803. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of HAP tenancies in each local authority; the projected annual cost of each in 2021 and to date in 2022; the estimated cost for HAP in 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41675/22]
View answerThe Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme plays a vital role in housing eligible families and individuals. At the end of Q1 2022, over 102,500 HAP tenancies had been set-up since the scheme commenced, of which there were nearly 61,500 households actively in receipt of HAP support.
Budget 2022 increased the Exchequer funding for the HAP scheme to €585 million. This will allow for the continued support of existing HAP households and also enable a projected additional 14,000 households to be supported by HAP in 2022. The outturn for HAP in 2021 was €541.7m. At the end of Q1 2022, €135.6m was spent to date in 2022 on HAP.
Data in relation to funding provided by the State for HAP tenancies in 2019?2021, broken down by local authority area, can be found on my Department’s website at this link:
www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/#housing-assistance-payment
This funding represents the portion paid by my Department after receipt of the differential rent which is paid by the tenant to the local authority. It does not include administration costs related to the Scheme.
HAP is funded through a combination of Exchequer monies and tenant differential rents collected in respect of HAP tenancies. Limerick City and County Council provides a highly effective HAP transactional shared service on behalf of all local authorities. This HAP Shared Services Centre (SSC) manages all HAP related rental transactions for the tenant, local authority and landlord.
Details of the number of active HAP tenancies and the average monthly landlord payment by local authority area at the end of Q1 2022 are set out in the table below.
|
Local authority |
Active HAP tenancies at end of Q1 2022 |
Average HAP monthly landlord payment Q1 2022 |
|
Carlow County Council |
653 |
€578.57 |
|
Cavan County Council |
450 |
€492.52 |
|
Clare County Council |
1,322 |
€508.63 |
|
Cork City Council |
3,119 |
€820.20 |
|
Cork County Council |
3,603 |
€763.28 |
|
Donegal County Council |
1,791 |
€409.89 |
|
Dublin City Council |
5,460 |
€1,335.38 |
|
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council |
927 |
€1,373.68 |
|
Fingal County Council |
2,604 |
€1,379.43 |
|
Galway City Council |
1,919 |
€836.95 |
|
Galway County Council |
1,464 |
€781.37 |
|
Kerry County Council |
1,729 |
€533.50 |
|
Kildare County Council |
2,235 |
€949.40 |
|
Kilkenny County Council |
768 |
€616.75 |
|
Laois County Council |
928 |
€627.20 |
|
Leitrim County Council |
274 |
€423.00 |
|
Limerick City and County Council |
2,391 |
€624.83 |
|
Longford County Council |
369 |
€445.81 |
|
Louth County Council |
3,227 |
€921.36 |
|
Mayo County Council |
1,306 |
€527.74 |
|
Meath County Council |
2,139 |
€984.23 |
|
Monaghan County Council |
561 |
€527.97 |
|
Offaly County Council |
777 |
€543.95 |
|
Roscommon County Council |
432 |
€504.05 |
|
Sligo County Council |
824 |
€525.56 |
|
South Dublin County Council |
2,930 |
€1,359.19 |
|
Tipperary County Council |
1,784 |
€509.10 |
|
Waterford City and County Council |
1,969 |
€542.83 |
|
Westmeath County Council |
968 |
€586.26 |
|
Wexford County Council |
1,495 |
€560.09 |
|
Wicklow County Council |
1,694 |
€1,042.27 |
|
Dublin Region Homeless Executive* |
9,320 |
N/A |
|
Total |
61,432 |
€927.35 ** |
* Average monthly landlord payments for tenancies set up by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive on behalf of the four Dublin local authorities are recorded against the individual local authority.
** Overall average landlord payment
Projections for 2023 will be agreed as part of the normal Estimates process
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.
