Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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268. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for extending the homeless housing assistance payment, HAP, provision outside the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, area to the adjoining regional band of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow; if a review of the DRHE provision has been conducted; if statistical analysis is available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24032/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a key Government priority and it is now available in 19 local authority areas including Kildare and Meath; the roll-out to Wicklow is planned for later in 2016. The Government recently increased the rent limits under HAP, allowing for a greater level of assistance from the State from 1 July 2016. The capacity of local authorities to make discretionary enhanced payments has also been extended to all authorities operating HAP. These new measures mean that maximum rent limits will increase in every part of Ireland, with the increase reflecting the pressures on rental properties in each particular location.

The Dublin Region Homelessness Pilot of HAP has been operational since February 2015 across the four housing authorities in the Dublin Region, i.e. Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council, and is being implemented through the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE). The focus of the Pilot is to transition qualified households from emergency accommodation into private rented tenancies. To date almost 350 tenancies have been secured for homeless households through the Pilot. The operation of the Pilot is kept under review on an on-going basis and I have no plans at present to extend it outside of the Dublin Region.

Financial support in respect of accommodation needs is also available through the Department of Social Protection’s Rent Supplement scheme which currently supports approximately 57,000 recipients at a cost of €267 million in 2016. At this time of constrained supply, the Department of Social Protection takes a flexible, case-by-case approach where rents exceed limits; this ensures that people at risk of homelessness or loss of their tenancy are supported under Rent Supplement where increased rental payments are required, and almost 9, 000 households have been supported through this approach.