Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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7. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider raising the housing assistance payment rental levels for applicants in recognition of the fact that it is impossible to secure rental properties at or near the current levels in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28765/15]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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This question relates to the housing assistance payment in County Donegal which has been rolled out in the past four or five weeks. I refer to the possibility of increasing the levels of payment.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. The housing assistance payment has been rolled out to all categories of household in 13 local authority areas, including County Donegal. There are now over 2,600 households nationally in receipt of the payment. The payment has been operational in the administrative area of Donegal County Council since 25 May. In the seven weeks since it has been introduced over 40 households have been accommodated under the scheme in County Donegal. I am pleased with this progress and would like to commend the local authority for its engagement with the scheme to date. Of the six local authorities that have been added, Donegal County Council has performed the best by far, for which the local authority deserves to be commended.

The maximum rent limits for the different household classes that apply in each local authority where the housing assistance payment has been commenced are set out in regulations and are currently based on the rent supplement limits as set out by the Department of Social Protection. In prescribing these limits household size and prevailing rents in the relevant areas are taken into consideration. In the context of implementation of the housing assistance payment, my Department works closely with the Department of Social Protection and monitors data gathered by housing assistance payment pilot authorities for the rent limits applying and difficulties that may arise. The operation of the housing assistance payment by Donegal County Council will be kept under active review in this context.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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The levels set for the HAP are in line with the rent assistance and I suppose the only positive difference with the HAP is that one does not get refused if one is paying a rent above the HAP level that is set. The rents are not based on the market in the local areas. In County Donegal, this morning there were five properties available under the HAP limit for a family with one child in a county the size of Donegal with 160,000 of a population and over 2,500 on the housing lists.

The HAP limits are not high enough and they need to be increased if the Government is serious about addressing this issue. While applicants are not turned down for being over the limit, they are still struggling to meet those rents and still have to pay the landlord the difference between the HAP limit and the amount that the local authority pays. No doubt Donegal County Council will work the scheme well because its housing office has always been proactive. If the Minister of State is serious about the success of this scheme, the limits need to be increased to reflect what is happening on the ground. A simple two-minute search on daft.ieby the Department will show the extent of the lack of properties available within the limits of the scheme.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The figures speak for themselves, especially in regard to Donegal. In the seven weeks since the HAP has been rolled out, and it is only the second wave of HAP local authorities of which Donegal is one, over 40 households have been accommodated. That, in itself, proves it is working quite well in Donegal.

We have ambitious targets for the HAP. With the Department of Social Protection, my Department will be monitoring closely the rent limits. We actively review that constantly. As I explained earlier to Deputy Catherine Murphy, in South Dublin County Council, where it was proven to us that there was a strong demand for flexibility, we applied such discretion. If that arises in other local authority areas, the same will apply. We are keeping it under active review.

Donegal is performing well and we expect it to continue to engage with many more households in the successful HAP accommodation scheme.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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In the past seven weeks, if the HAP had not been rolled out in Donegal, 40 applicants would have got rent allowance because they would have submitted on their form that they were under the rent limits and they would have been approved. What the Minister of State says bears no reality to the situation on the ground. I would be interested to see if he would go back and ask Donegal County Council for how many of those 40 applicants was the rent at or below the HAP limit. That would show first-hand from the Minister of State's own officials what the situation is.

The Minister of State can get an official in the Department to spend two minutes on a computer and see the position on rent limits and whether the HAP limit is suitable or not. That would be a simple exercise for him to do and it would show that the HAP limits are not viable or realistic for anybody.

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Department of Social Protection has issued instructions to its local staff to use discretion as required. In the overall sense, we have ambitious targets for the HAP around the country and we are rolling it out to a number of local authorities. The second wave has just been announced and Donegal is one of six local authorities in that second wave. These are new applicants who are joining the scheme in the HAP and we will also be transferring recipients of rent supplement into the HAP scheme. That will be ongoing.

I have committed to the Deputy that we will review the scheme. We actively review and evaluate how successful the scheme is in each area and if problems arise, we will engage on that basis, as has been done on South Dublin County Council. We are committed to this and we want a successful efficient HAP scheme. The scheme is new. It is taking time for applicants to understand it and engage in it. Limerick City and County Council has proven it. It has over 400 people on the HAP scheme and is continuously engaging, as are the other local authorities, to ensure that there are more people joining the scheme, almost on a daily basis.