Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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309. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the counties that currently have the homelessness rate of HAP available to persons in need in their respective counties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57973/22]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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310. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason that County Cavan does not have the homelessness rate of HAP available to persons in need; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57999/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 309 and 310 together.

The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support for people who have a long-term housing need. Under HAP, tenants source their own accommodation in the private rented market. However, additional supports are available under HAP for homeless households or households at risk of homelessness. While eligible households or individuals may source accommodation for themselves under the Homeless HAP scheme, a dedicated resource, the Place Finder Service, has been established nationwide to provide assistance. The Place Finder Service can assist qualified households in finding suitable tenancies by facilitating access to appropriate additional supports.

To qualify for 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 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 was tasked with undertaking an analytical exercise to examine whether an increase in the level of discretion available to local authorities under HAP is required. The Housing Agency undertook to carry out this analytical exercise on behalf of the Department to better understand what level of discretion should be made available to local authorities under HAP to maintain adequate levels of support.

Following receipt and analysis of this review, I, in cooperation with Government colleagues and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, have now approved an increase in the HAP discretion rate from 20% to 35% and for new tenancies to extend the couple’s rate to single person households. This will secure more tenancies and prevent new entries to homelessness. Both these measures came into effect from 11 July 2022.

Each local authority including Cavan County Council now has statutory discretion to agree to a HAP payment up to 35% above the prescribed maximum rent limit to secure appropriate accommodation for a household that requires it, or up to 50% in the case of homeless households in the Dublin region.  The additional discretion available to homeless households recognises the difficulty this cohort of households face in sourcing and securing properties in a highly competitive rental market.

A separate review of the discretion available to Homeless HAP tenancies in Dublin, which is up to 50% above the prescribed maximum rent limits, is currently being undertaken by my Department, in conjunction with the Housing Agency.