Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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172. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm that the housing assistance payment scheme is now being operated by Dublin City Council; if the scheme is open to all housing applicants in Dublin city; and if he will provide a copy of the statutory regulation provided to Dublin City Council regarding the implementation of scheme. [21134/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The implementation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a key Government priority and a major pillar of the Social Housing Strategy 2020.The HAP scheme will bring all social housing supports provided by the State under the aegis of local authorities. The scheme will remove a barrier to employment by allowing recipients to remain in the scheme if they gain full-time employment. HAP will also improve regulation of the rented accommodation being supported and provide certainty for landlords as regards their rental income.

Following the enactment of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 on 28 July 2014, the first phase of the HAP statutory pilot commenced with effect from 15 September 2014 in Limerick City and County Council, Waterford City and County Council and Cork County Council. HAP commenced in Louth, Kilkenny, South Dublin and Monaghan County Councils from 1 October.

While HAP is not currently available for all classes of qualified household in the Dublin City Council area, on 18 December 2014, Dublin City Council became part of the statutory HAP pilot, with a specific focus on accommodating homeless households. Dublin City Council is implementing the HAP pilot for homeless households in the Dublin region on behalf of all 4 Dublin local authorities. South Dublin County Council is the only Dublin Local Authority that currently operates HAP in respect of all other classes of qualified household in its area.

The Dublin Homeless HAP Pilot is provided for through the following two statutory instruments which are available on at the links provided:

- Housing Assistance Payment (Section 50) (No. 3) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No.575 of 2014) and

- Housing Assistance Payment (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 576 of 2014)

During the legislation’s passage through the Oireachtas in July 2014 an undertaking was given that a progress report would be prepared for the relevant Oireachtas Committee. Data from the pilot sites has been gathered and I submitted a report to the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht last month. Based on the findings of that review, HAP commenced in Donegal County Council on 25 May 2015 and consideration is currently being given to the sequencing of a further cohort of local authorities to commence HAP on an incremental basis this year. There are now over 2,000 households in receipt of HAP across the local authority areas taking part in the statutory pilot scheme and these additional local authorities will assist in achieving the 2015 HAP delivery target as set out in the Strategy.