Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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70. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 157 of 8 February 2017, if local authorities are responsible for rehousing housing assistance payment HAP tenancies should a HAP landlord exit the scheme in view of the fact that a housing need is considered to have been met when accommodated in a HAP tenancy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8832/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme is a form of social housing support. The scheme is underpinned by Part 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014. This is distinct from other forms of social housing support where the tenant may not always find their own accommodation and instead are allocated a dwelling in accordance with Section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009.

A key principle of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme is that eligible households source their own accommodation in the private rented sector, which best suits their needs in their area of choice. The local authority is not party to the tenancy agreement underpinning a HAP supported tenancy.

As HAP is deemed to be a social housing support under section 19 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, as amended, households in receipt of HAP are not included on the local authority waiting list for social housing support. However, HAP recipients may access other forms of social housing supports by applying to go on the local authority transfer list. A statutory Ministerial Direction was issued in Q4 of 2014 instructing local authorities to take the necessary steps to ensure that households benefitting from HAP can avail of a move to other forms of social housing support, should they wish to do so, through the transfer option. Furthermore, HAP recipients, who apply to go on the transfer list, should get full credit for the time they spent on the waiting list and be placed on the transfer list with no less favourable terms than if they had remained on the waiting list. In practice, housing authorities inform HAP recipients in writing of their entitlement to apply to go on the transfer list when they are approved for HAP.

Tenancies supported by the HAP scheme are governed by the terms of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended) and are afforded the same protections available to all private rental tenancies, which were recently enhanced. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Act to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants. In the case where a HAP supported tenancy comes to an end, the tenant can find alternative accommodation and retain their eligibility for HAP support or the local authority may decide to offer another form of social housing support to the tenant in accordance with their scheme of letting priorities.

There are more than 18,200 households supported by HAP currently in 28 local authority areas, including homeless households being supported by the DRHE operated scheme for the Dublin Region, and the scheme is working well for the households who are benefitting from the security of the long-term housing support that it offers.