Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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171. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has undertaken a study into the age profiles of those in receipt of the housing assistance payment. [49294/21]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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172. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of persons in the State in receipt of the housing assistance payment by county. [49295/21]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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173. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has conducted a review of the housing assistance payment scheme; if he plans to make changes to the scheme; and when the scheme was last reviewed by his Department. [49296/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 171, 172 and 173 together.

Increased rent limits for the Housing Assistance Programme (HAP) and the Rent Supplement Scheme were introduced in 2016. These limits were agreed in conjunction with the Department of Social Protection (DSP). In reviewing the rent limits, my Department worked closely with DSP 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.

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.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 continues to keep the operation of the HAP scheme under review and 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.

The Programme for Government commits to ensuring that HAP levels are adequate to support vulnerable households, while we increase the supply of social housing. Under Housing for All, my Department will undertake an analytical exercise to examine whether an increase in the level of discretion available to Local Authorities under HAP is required, in order to maintain adequate levels of HAP support.

The table below shows the number of active HAP tenancies at the end of Q2 2021, by local authority: