The dwindling number of properties available within Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) limits shows that the government\u2019s ongoing reliance on the private rental market is not a sustainable model, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latest quarterly \u2018Locked Out of the Market\u2019 report from the Simon Communities of Ireland makes for grim reading.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt reveals that just 41 properties were available to rent within the discretionary rate of HAP across 16 areas surveyed over three dates last month. Of these, 31 were located in Dublin, with no HAP properties available in 10 of the areas surveyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis represent a decrease of 11 per cent, or five properties, since the last survey was conducted in December 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese figures highlight the complete dysfunction of housing policy in recent decades. This has resulted in successive governments shifting away from building social housing in favour of sourcing properties from the private rental sector via HAP, which was introduced by the Fine Gael-Labour government in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cNumerous reports have warned that HAP is an insecure for model of housing provision that does not represent value for money as the State is paying almost a billion a year into landlords\u2019 pockets \u2013 with no permanent social housing to show for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis flawed policy means we are constantly chasing rents and results in regular evictions of low-income households from HAP tenancies into homelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe figures also highlight the importance of reinstating the tenant in-situ scheme in full. The reality is that if any of the 60,000 HAP households are evicted, they will not be able to find somewhere else to rent and will inevitably join the growing ranks of Ireland\u2019s homeless.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latest report from the Simon Communities of Ireland proves that HAP is not a sustainable solution to Ireland\u2019s housing crisis, but just another example of failed government policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
April 17, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The dwindling number of properties available within Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) limits shows that the government\u2019s ongoing reliance on the private rental market is not a sustainable model, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said: \u201cThe latest quarterly \u2018Locked Out of the Market\u2019 report from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[663,10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homelessness","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n