Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. I recognise that in Dún Laoghaire, which is the area he represents, there is a particular difficulty in securing HAP tenancies. I can see that when I look at the data. We have a place-finder in place to assist those who are trying desperately to find tenancies as well as offering one month's deposit and the first month's rent. There is a potential need to use HAP in a different way to help those who really cannot find a tenancy. We are working on that to see if something can be done over and above what is being done now to help people into HAP tenancies. Nationally, we have secured 353 HAP tenancies a week so far in 2018. HAP continues, therefore, to be a very important solution for those who are struggling to secure housing.

Of 163 HAP tenancies secured in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, 77% needed the additional discretionary payment. That went up to 18% which was still lower than the 20% uplift which is available in the system. When we add in the homeless HAP statistics, 190 tenancies were secured in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council area. That is 26 benefitting from the homeless HAP, which is 96% of the discretion. The average rate of the discretion above that is 29% when there is a 50% uplift in homeless HAP. When one looks at Dún Laoghaire, not everyone is availing of the additional discretion or needs to and when they do they are not taking it to the maximum. There is still room, even in Dún Laoghaire, to get more from HAP.

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