Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 October 2022
296. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason that the €544 million HAP allocation in Budget 2023 will fund an additional 8,800 HAP tenancies when the allocation represents a €40 million reduction in the 2022 allocation, which would suggest a net decline in HAP tenancies supported by the Government in 2023. [48303/22]
View answerThe number of new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancies being created each year is declining. In 2020, 15,885 new HAP tenancies were created, this reduced to 13,095 new HAP tenancies in 2021 and at end Q2 2022, 4,625 new HAP tenancies had been created.
At end Q2 2022 there were more than 60,000 households actively in receipt of HAP support. The 2023 budget allocation will enable continued support for existing tenancies along with funding for 8,800 new households to be accommodated in HAP supported tenancies.
HAP recipients can avail of a move to other forms of social housing support through a transfer list. 33% of exits from the HAP Scheme have been to other forms of Social Housing. Including 2,061 transfers to other forms of social housing in the first half of 2022. Last year the transfers to other forms of social housing was 4,587.
I am committed to decreasing our reliance on the HAP scheme and central to that is significantly scaling up our social housing supply. Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes in the period 2022-2026. Our clear focus is to increase the stock of social housing through new build projects delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies. My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity in all local authorities. This data is available until the end of Quarter 2 2022 and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/
