Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

As the Minister will know, there is a two-tier system in place in respect of homeless HAP. Those who entered the scheme after July 2022 are able to access a higher rate than those who entered before that time. This has resulted in an unjust situation where people are faced with the prospect of renewed homelessness in order to be able to access the higher rate. I will give an example from my constituency. A young woman who works very hard every day lost her car because she had to sell it. She spends over an hour on public transport to work on a farm every single day. She cannot afford to pay her rent any more. She is currently on a homeless HAP rate of €990 per month. If she was to access homeless HAP today, she would be entitled to €1,215 and could pay her rent but she is not able to access that rate. I have pursued this with the DRHE and with the Minister through parliamentary questions. The only way for her to access the higher rate is to become homeless again, which clearly makes no sense. Does the Minister agree that we need a change in this area, which could be done by way of ministerial order, so that people like this woman and many others in the same situation could access the higher rate without having to enter homelessness again?

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