Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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591. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on extending the housing assistance payment to those who became homeless after December 2014. [33355/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The first phase of the statutory pilot for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme commenced in September 2014 and has been introduced incrementally to 13 local authority areas to date - Limerick City and County Council; Waterford City and County Council; Cork, Louth, Kilkenny, South Dublin, Monaghan, Donegal, Offaly, Carlow, Clare and Tipperary County Councils; and Cork City Council. To date, there are over 4,000 households supported by HAP across these local authority areas, including 144 previously homeless households. 52 of these homeless households have been housed with the assistance of the additional supports provided by the Dublin Homeless HAP pilot scheme which has been in operation since February 2015. The Homeless HAP pilot scheme is managed by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), an established shared-service arrangement between the four housing authorities in the region for which Dublin City Council is the lead authority. Regulations came into effect on 18 December 2014, which extend the statutory HAP pilot to cover the administrative areas of Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, in respect of homeless households only.

The Homeless HAP pilot is targeted at households qualified for social housing support that are considered homeless by the housing authority concerned and that stayed in ‘Section 10’ funded accommodation on 1 December 2014 or at any time within the preceding 6 months. In order to take account of the particular difficulties with sourcing suitable rental accommodation in Dublin city and county local authority areas, the maximum rents set out in the homeless HAP regulations provide that up to an additional 20% above the current Rent Supplement rent limit applicable may be payable.

It was agreed by all stakeholders that a review of the homeless HAP pilot would be prepared following six months of operation. Issues in relation to the operation of the scheme, such as the date for eligibility to access the homeless HAP pilot scheme, are currently being considered as part of that review process.