Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Boyd Barrett knows, HAP supports approximately 61,900 households in this country. We had a debate last night about rents and one matter that I was not able to put on the record then was the fact that the Government provides nearly €1 billion in direct rental support to families, and rightly so. Approximately €585 million goes to HAP. Sometimes that is forgotten and others try to paint it as some type of subsidy to the private landlord sector. It is not. The payments are supports that go to real families.

I acknowledge the Deputy's question and I will give him an update on the current position. There is no question but that there are pressures due to rising rents. We have introduced the 2% rent cap and that is taking effect. That aside, we commit to ensuring that HAP levels are adequate to support vulnerable households while we increase the supply of social housing. I want to see people exiting HAP and going into permanent homes. There were approximately 4,300 exits from HAP into other social houses in 2021, which is good. We are seeing a substantial reduction in the number of increases within the HAP. Fundamentally, there is a top-up payment of 20% above the maximum limits and up to 50% in the Dublin region for those households either in or in immediate risk of homelessness.

However, under Housing for All we have committed to undertake an analytical exercise to examine whether an increase in the level of the 20% discretion available to all local authorities and the discretion in the four Dublin local authorities is required to maintain adequate support for families. The Housing Agency was undertaking this work and has completed it. The review has been submitted and it is with my Department at present. I expect to receive the recommendations following the analysis of the Housing Agency's work by the Department. That will conclude shortly and I will be engaging with the Oireachtas joint committee through its Chairman, Deputy Matthews, and members of the committee. That work is nearing conclusion.

I fully recognise that the increases in rent and the HAP limits pose problems, and particularly acutely in the Deputy's area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. We want to help not just by increasing the HAP, which I am open to doing based on the analytical data that come through, but also by providing permanent homes for people. To reiterate, there was a significant number of exits, 4,587, from HAP into other social houses in 2021.

See this speech in context