Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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265. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will review housing assistance payment, HAP, rates with a view to reflecting market rental costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41072/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Increased rent limits for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rent Supplement Scheme were introduced in 2016. These limits were agreed in conjunction with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP).  In reviewing the rent limits, my Department worked closely with DEASP and monitored data gathered from the Residential Tenancies Board and the HAP Shared Services Centre.  The HAP rent limits were increased significantly, in the order of 60% in some cases.

Maximum rent limits for the HAP scheme are set out for each housing authority area by the Housing Assistance Payment (Amendment) Regulations 2017.  The current maximum HAP rent limits are available on the Irish Statute Book website at the following link:

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Local authorities also have discretion, because of local rental market conditions, to exceed the maximum rent limit by up to 20%, or up to 50% in the Dublin region for those households either in, or at immediate risk of homelessness. It should be noted that it is a matter for the local authority to determine whether the application of the flexibility is warranted on a case by case basis and also the level of additional discretion applied in each case. 

In considering this issue, I am conscious that increasing the current HAP rent limits could have negative inflationary impacts, leading to a detrimental impact on the wider rental market, including for those households who are not receiving HAP support.

My Department closely monitors the level of discretion being used by local authorities, taking into account other sources of data, including Residential Tenancies Board rent data published on a quarterly basis. It is considered that the current maximum rent limits, together with the additional flexibility available to local authorities, are adequate to support the effective operation of the HAP scheme.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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266. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of housing assistance payment, HAP, place finders that are employed in each county; the number of properties that have been found by county for each of the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41073/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Homeless HAP Place Finder Service was established in January 2018 and it was made available to each of the 31 local authorities, which are entitled to apply for approval for a dedicated resource.

There are currently Place Finder positions in 26 local authorities, with recruitment taking place to fill existing vacancies. 

The current number of placefinders in each of these 26 local authorities and the number of properties sourced by the placefinders in the last year is set out in the table below: