Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

446. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the way in which an increase in persons working from home is resulting in persons from high-rental areas acquiring properties in low-rental areas in order that they can continue to work from home at a lower cost; if his attention has been further drawn to the way in which the practice is beginning to make it more difficult for families in receipt of the housing assistance payment to find landlords that will choose them over high-income applicants from elsewhere; his views on whether the practice may only get more common in the future; his plans to address same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22693/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The 2020 target for additional Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) set-ups is 15,750 and at the end of Q2 2020, 7,825 HAP tenancies had been set up (49%). My Department is not aware that the increase in people working from home is impacting on the HAP scheme.

Under the HAP scheme, in order to secure appropriate accommodation for a household that requires it, each local authority has statutory discretion to agree to a HAP payment up to 20% above the prescribed maximum rent limit.

A landlord or an agent acting on behalf of a landlord is not legally obliged to enter into a tenancy agreement specifically with a HAP recipient. However, on 1 January 2016, the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 introduced “housing assistance” as a new discriminatory ground. This means that discrimination in the provision of accommodation or related service and amenities against people in receipt of rent supplement, HAP or other social welfare payments is prohibited. Further information is available athttps://www.ihrec.ie/your-rights/i-have-an-issue-with-a-service/i-have-an-issue-about-accommodation/.