John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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218. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the annual number of persons in receipt of HAP; the annual cost since its introduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9138/17]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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239. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons in receipt of rent supplement for each of the years from 2011-2017; the annual cost of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9138/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 218 and 239 together.

The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) has been rolled out to local authorities on a statutory phased basis since September 2014.  As HAP is rolled out nationally it replaces Rent Supplement for households with a long-term housing need.

The annual cost of the HAP scheme to the Exchequer is made up of the continuing cost of supporting the tenancies in place at the end of the previous year; the additional cost of the new tenancies; the costs associated with the making of HAP payments; the administration cost of local authorities in their operation of the scheme, and the costs associated with providing public access to general information on the HAP scheme.

There are currently more than 18,000 households supported by the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) in 28 local authority areas, including homeless households being supported by the DRHE operated scheme for the Dublin Region. The following table shows the number of additional households supported by HAP, the number of local authorities operating the scheme, the Exchequer Allocation and outturn by each year of operation:

My Department continues to keep the operation of the HAP scheme under review. However, I am satisfied with how the HAP scheme is operating and I consider it to be a key vehicle for meeting housing need and fulfilling the ambitious programme under Rebuilding Ireland.