Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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208. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the progress being made on the roll-out of homeless housing assistance payment, HAP, to other areas in the country; and if he will publish a report evaluating the success of homeless HAP in areas where it is currently in use. [4709/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Homeless Pilot of the HAP scheme 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 this pilot remains the transitioning of qualified households from emergency accommodation, including hotels, into private rented tenancies. To qualify for HAP under the homeless pilot scheme, a household must generally be accepted as homeless within the meaning of section 2 of the Housing Act 1988 by one of the four Dublin local authorities. The Homeless HAP support has also been used to prevent households from entering homelessness and homeless services. While eligible homeless households may source accommodation for themselves, a dedicated placement team, the Dublin Place-Finder Service, has also been established to engage directly with property-owners and support qualified households to find suitable tenancies and to ensure that any additional supports that may be needed are put in place. This is a particularly important service for households currently residing in emergency accommodation in the Dublin region.

The Rebuilding Ireland target set for the Homeless HAP scheme was to support 550 households by the end of 2016, and this was exceeded with the setting up of a total of 810 new tenancies at year end. Rebuilding Ireland has set a target of 1,200 additional households to be supported through the Homeless HAP pilot scheme for 2017.

In addition, HAP has been effective in meeting the long-term housing needs of a further 236 homeless households in local authorities operating HAP outside the Dublin region. While I am confident that HAP can and will continue to deliver for homeless households across the country, I have asked my Department to continue to monitor the operation of the scheme, including Homeless HAP pilot in Dublin, closely.