Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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380. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if consideration has been given to allowing HAP recipients who fall behind in rent payments to pay arrears through an affordable weekly payment; the reason that the process requires that HAP recipients must pay the amount in full as with local authority tenants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54637/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Tenants in the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme are required to sign a rent contribution agreement to pay a weekly rental contribution to the relevant local authority, in line with the local authority’s differential rent scheme. As set out in the rent contribution agreement, this weekly rental contribution must be paid by them so that they remain eligible for the HAP scheme.

The approach taken by the HAP Shared Services Centre (HAP SSC) has been very effective with minimal levels of rent arrears arising for tenants. At Q2 2022, the scheme had a 97% differential rent collection rate. Therefore, only a very small number of tenants have fallen into difficulty with their differential rent.

During the Covid-19 emergency, the HAP Debt Management Process (DMP) was suspended from March 2020 and partially re-commenced in October 2020. This meant non-payment of differential rent by a tenant during that time did not affect payments to HAP landlords. Tenants were, however, expected to continue to pay their rent with supports available for those financially impacted by Covid.

Following on from the successful roll out of the Covid vaccine programme and the reopening of society, the normal DMP was reinstated from 6 September 2021.

Tenants that incurred arrears during the Covid-19 emergency were given additional time to engage with the HAP Debt Management Unit to clear their arrears, as well as access to payment plans as a specific Covid measure. Under the normal HAP DMP payment plans are not offered or available to tenants at this stage of the process. The HAP SSC has now resumed the standard debt management process.

The National Homeless Action Committee (NHAC), which I chair, was established in December 2021 in line with a commitment set out in Housing for All. At the first meeting of NHAC, it was agreed that immediate priority would be given to additional measures to prevent homelessness. A number of measures have been identified and are now being advanced. Three separate subgroups have also been established to focus on specific areas of homelessness prevention. One of these subgroups is tasked with considering the risk of homelessness for HAP/HHAP tenants in arrears.

The Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Act 2022 was signed into law on 29 October 2022. The Act makes emergency provision to defer the termination dates of certain residential tenancies that fall, or would fall, during the period beginning on 30 October 2022 and ending on 31 March 2023 in order to mitigate the risk that persons whose tenancies would otherwise be terminated during that period would be unable to obtain alternative accommodation.

To assist households who may fall into difficulties with the payment of their differential rent, I have introduced an extension to the current debt management process for the duration of the emergency provision. It is expected that this extension will assist in preventing exits from HAP for the non-payment of rent.

HAP tenants in arrears should contact their local authority and the HAP SSC to discuss the options that are available to them to ensure the continuation of their HAP support.