Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This week I was contacted by a woman in Dublin who suffers from the terrible condition of anorexia. She tells me she has no life but is fighting to get it back by getting treatment. A huge obstacle she is facing in getting treatment for this awful disease is that she is on the housing assistance payment, HAP, and cannot find a rented home near the hospital where she is getting treatment. Hers is just one story of the difficulties so many people are having in securing accommodation where they are on HAP.

Research from our Labour Party housing spokesperson, Senator Moynihan, has shown that just 182 homes across the whole of Ireland are available for single people on HAP. Threshold revealed today that four fifths of renters are struggling to find a home at all while 44% of those in rented accommodation fear their tenancy is insecure. We need to see greater and more urgent action from Government to address this difficulty and ensure that more homes are available for those on HAP and also to ensure that we see better provision made for those who are renting and those who are desperate to buy a home but cannot afford to do so.

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