Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 December 2022
230. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the additional gross and net annual cost to the state of every €1,000 increase to the social housing eligibility income thresholds up to €10,000 in tabular form. [60520/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra231. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated additional annual expenditure that would be required from the Exchequer on the housing assistance payment by increases to the income eligibility thresholds for social housing in €1,000 increments from €1,000 to €10,000 respectively; and the number of additional households that it is estimated would become eligible for HAP as a consequence of the same increases in tabular form. [60521/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra235. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of additional persons that became eligible for HAP in counties Carlow, Clare, Laois, Westmeath and Galway as a result of the decision in September 2022 to increase the social housing eligibility income thresholds by €5,000; and the percentage increase to the number of HAP recipients prior to the move that this equates to in tabular form. [60525/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra236. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated additional annual gross and net cost to the State of the decision in September 2022 to increase the social housing eligibility income thresholds by €5,000 in counties Carlow, Clare, Laois, Westmeath and Galway. [60529/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra240. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated number of additional households that would become eligible for social housing supports if the band 3 threshold was further revised from €30,000 to €35,000; and the estimated cost of supports for them. [60722/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra241. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated additional gross and net cost of social housing supports for the 16,000 additional households that will become eligible as a result of the decision announced on 29 November 2022 to increase the baseline thresholds; the breakdown of the cost estimate; and the estimated projected number of these 16,000 households that will be eligible for HAP due to shortage of social housing. [60723/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra242. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the review of social housing income eligibility or his Department otherwise considered changes to the treatment of family income supplement or the income of adult children who are unable to leave the family home due to the housing crisis; if so, the changes considered; the estimated numbers impacted by; and the estimated cost of the changes. [60724/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government recently agreed proposals to increase the baseline social housing income eligibility thresholds for all local authorities by €5,000. The changes come into effect from 1 January 2023.
An analysis by my Department suggests some 16,000 additional households may be eligible for social housing support, including HAP, as a result of the changes. Previous analysis by the Housing Agency suggested around 25% of qualified households may apply for HAP. On this basis, and all things equal, up to 4,000 households could be expected to apply for HAP at a full year cost of circa €38 million.
The Review of Income Eligibility for Social Housing Support, carried out by the Housing Agency in 2021, estimated some 200 or so additional households would apply for HAP on foot of a €5,000 increase to the income thresholds for Carlow, Clare, Galway, Laois and Westmeath County Councils. The Housing Agency analysis in this regard is available on my Department's website at gov.ie - Review of Income Eligibility for Social Housing Support (www.gov.ie) My Department estimates the full year HAP cost for these additional households would be around €1m.
An analysis of the longer-term impact of increasing thresholds will be carried out in the context of the broader examination of the social housing income eligibility model recently commenced by my Department.
Recent analysis carried out by my Department was limited to the impact - in terms of eligible households and resulting HAP costs - of the uplift in the income thresholds by €5,000 across all local authorities. It did not examine the impact of other stepped changes.
Changes to the income eligibility model, beyond those to the income thresholds, have not been considered by my Department. Accordingly, the data requested by the Deputy regarding changes to the treatment of income family supplement or the income of adult family members are not available.
