Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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1123. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of preventative HAP payments granted based on notices of termination and on homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44232/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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In order to further assist homeless households in exiting emergency accommodation all local authorities have, since January 2018, been provided with the option to pay deposits and advance rental payments for any households in emergency homeless accommodation, or who are at immediate risk of entering emergency accommodation, in order to secure accommodation via the HAP Scheme. The HAP Place Finder service is a targeted support for homeless households who may find it difficult to secure HAP tenancies.

To qualify for these specific additional supports available to homeless households, a household must have been determined by the relevant local authority to be homeless within the meaning of section 2 of the Housing Act 1988. The operation of local homeless services, including the Place Finder service, is a matter for each local authority.

The information requested in respect of payments being required on foot of specific circumstances is not currently available in my Department. However, the Place Finder service has been successfully utilised by local authorities, with more than 6,200 households supported by the Homeless HAP scheme in the Dublin region up to the end of Q2, 2019. Nationally, the corresponding figure is over 8,100 households.