Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this topic. I understand he will bring the points I am raising back to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, who cannot be here this evening.

The aspect of the housing assistance payment, HAP, I want to focus on is a serious problem that seems to have dramatically worsened in the past two or three months, namely, the delay in having a HAP application processed. This in addition to the lack of flexibility shown in cases where rents are very high and the HAP is not sufficient to cover them, meaning people have to try to source accommodation in a very limited sector. In the past few months, the delay in processing an application has become dramatically worse and now averages nine weeks. One can find a situation where a family will find a landlord who will accept the HAP. However, when they get the contracts and present the application they are told the process will take nine weeks. Several people have told me they have been told to pay the rent in the interim. Who, in his or her right mind, would say that? If people had several thousand euro in their bank account, they would not be looking for a housing assistance payment. It is absolutely mad. These people do not have money to pay rent in the interim. The delay has got dramatically worse.

Another major concern I hear expressed all the time is that when people borrow the money they do not feel secure about getting the money back because they will have demonstrated an ability to pay it. This issue is adding to the stress. Landlords are also left in limbo because they do not know, if they have accommodated somebody with HAP, that the payment will be processed. It would be enormously helpful if a letter was sent out confirming that people are approved.

I speak to a number of estate agents, and I had cause to speak to one particular letting agent, who I know is very good at sourcing accommodation and encouraging landlords to take HAP tenants. He spoke about having very good experiences and not having an issue. However, he feels he has been left with egg on face because he recommended HAP but it is taking so long to process it that landlords are coming back to him saying they are uncertain they will get paid. It is perfectly legitimate and legal for a landlord to evict somebody in that scenario. The letting agent told me that once a property is advertised in the north Kildare-west Dublin area, he expects to receive 150 or 160 emails within 24 hours, of which 70% would be from HAP tenants. The remaining 30% of applicants have the best chance of securing that accommodation if the landlord knows he or she will have to wait nine or ten weeks to have the HAP payment processed.

I have come across several cases where people who have been told to leave accommodation subsequently find other accommodation and then have to reapply for HAP. When we ring the office in Limerick we are told the reason for the delay is that a large number of additional applications have been received. Is there a large number of additional applications? Is the problem a shortage of money or a staffing issue? What is causing the problem because the situation is chaotic at the moment?

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