Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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473. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of households in receipt of HAP, by local authority, broken down by household dwelling type and type of HAP payment (including discretionary HAP payment), in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14143/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support available for people who have a long-term housing need. Any household assessed as eligible for social housing is immediately eligible for HAP. Eligible households can source their own accommodation in the private rental sector which should be within the HAP rent limits provided to them by the local authority.

The latest available data covers the period to the end of Q3 2024. The tables below provide a breakdown of the total number of active HAP tenancies registered by local authority to end Q3 2024 and a breakdown of tenancies by household compositions.

Table 1: Number of active tenancies at end Q3 2024

Table 2: Active HAP tenancies by household type

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. Up to 50% discretion can be provided in the case of homeless households in the Dublin region. It is a matter for the local authority to determine, whether, and to what extent, the application of the flexibility is warranted.

From available data, at the end of Q3 2024, 68.2% of the total number of households being supported by HAP were benefiting from the additional flexibility, at an average rate of discretion of 28.8% above the relevant limit.

When the additional discretion available to homeless households in the Dublin Region is removed, 65% of households nationally were benefiting from the additional flexibility. In those cases, the average rate of discretionary payment being used was 23.7% above the relevant limit.

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.