Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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297. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has reviewed the relationship between HAP rent limits and rents being quoted in postal districts across Dublin; and if the ceilings now need to be adjusted. [8281/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Maximum rent limits for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) were set for each housing authority area in 2016, in conjunction with the Department of Social Protection (DSP). In reviewing rent limits, my Department worked closely with DSP and monitored data gathered from the Residential Tenancies Board and the HAP Shared Services Centre. In prescribing these limits, household size and prevailing rents in the relevant areas are taken into consideration. The HAP rent limits were increased significantly in July 2016, 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.

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.

Since 11 July 2022 each local authority has statutory discretion to agree to a HAP payment up to 35% above the prescribed maximum rent limit and for new tenancies to extend the couple’s rate to single persons households. It should be noted that it is a matter for the local authority to determine if the application of the discretion is warranted on a case by case basis and also the level of additional discretion applied in each case.

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.

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.