Dr. Robert Sweeney:

Here is current expenditure on social housing for 2019. We see that HAP is the main component of this at 36.4%. Homeless accommodation is 15.7%, SHCEP is 13.2% and RAS is 12.8%. We see the figure for rent supplement along with a variety of other schemes. HAP is the most important part of current expenditure on social housing and is set to become more important in the coming years as rent supplement and RAS are gradually phased out.

In terms of how we might assess HAP, I will present what one might call positives. Spending has broadly been in line with Rebuilding Ireland projections. There is often criticism of HAP for increased budget outlays. As I will discuss shortly, it is not a very efficient way of providing social housing but nevertheless spending has been in line with the Rebuilding Ireland projections. It has been effective in providing income support for those in the private rental sector, many of whom would become homeless without HAP. The advantage of HAP is that it is comparatively easy to set up. It takes time to scale up local authority or AHB building of social housing whereas HAP is very easy to scale up.

Research by the ESRI has shown that HAP creates a financial incentive to do paid work. One of the criticisms of rent supplement was that it created barriers to work. Whatever one's views are, one of the goals of HAP was to remove some of those barriers. On that ground, HAP has been successful, whether one agrees with that policy or not.

There are problems with HAP. Can everybody see the problems with HAP slide?