Ms Mary Hurley:

There are three bands of income eligibility for social housing. As the committee will be aware, to be eligible for HAP a person must be eligible for social housing. The bands are based on local economic issues and there are issues related to more rural counties as opposed to urban counties. We are looking at the bands for each county and we hope to have that work completed at the end of the year. It is related to many of the affordability measures that we have in place. We are looking at that particular issue.

Deputy O'Dowd raised the immediate issue of movement from bands and the fact that a good solution for a homeless household is sometimes available in a neighbouring county. We are working closely with Ms Gleeson on this matter and we have arrangements in place. We have managed to move people up and down the bands to ensure they do not become homeless and we will continue to do so. We will issue guidance on this to local authorities shortly. It is something to which we are committed because it is a no-brainer if somebody can move local authority area to be housed. It is a prevention tool for homelessness.

In terms of the numbers, I mentioned earlier that more than 2,500 households have moved between local authorities to date under HAP. Given that 37,000 households are receiving a HAP support, the number of households moving between areas is significant.