New report shows lack of properties available within HAP Scheme limits

Ber Grogan (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman.

Ciara Kelly (0:04)

On Newstalk, with Ciara.

Now, the Simon Communities of Ireland, they're quarterly locked out of the market report, shows that there are just 12 properties available to rent within the Housing Assistant Payment Scheme, that's the HAP Scheme, limits in September in the areas that they've looked at. And joining us now for more on this is the Executive Director at the Simon Communities of Ireland, Ber Grogan. Good evening to you, Ber. That sounds like a very, very low number of, I suppose, HAP properties available. Give us a bit of an overview of what you found.

Ber Grogan (0:39)

Yeah, thanks so much for having us on to speak about this. And you're right, it's 1% of the properties that were available to rent. So what we did see in this quarterly report was that there was an increase in the overall number of properties, but then a decrease in HAP. So the more affordable levels.

And when you compare that back to, I think, with 2021, there was around a 28% difference of HAP versus the wider rental sector. So it is very worrying that the gap between higher rents and affordable rents is widening.

Ciara Kelly (1:14)

Can I ask you, because for our listeners, how much is HAP? What do people get if they're on the HAP scheme?

Ber Grogan (1:19)

Yeah, and this is where it gets really complicated because it depends on where you live. It's different across local authorities and it's also different depending on your income. So it's an assistance payment depending again on the rent that you're paying. And if you're working part time, there would be a percentage to that. So in the full report that's available on our website on Simon.ie, we do have kind of the breakdown of all of the different, the 16 areas studied.

Ciara Kelly (1:45)

But is it a spectrum from the, it's like from 600 euros up to 800 euros or something like that or?

Ber Grogan (1:51)

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And it's called the differential scheme where the percentage is based on your income. So and that's why it was brought in back in 2014 to allow people, you know, if you were starting back at work part time, that you could keep your housing assistance payment. The idea was good back in the day.

Ciara Kelly (2:10)

And how many people are entitled or qualify for HAP? I'm just thinking, because I'm trying to get a sense of if there's 12 properties available, that would be OK if there's only 12 people with HAP. But obviously that's not the case at all.

Ber Grogan (2:21)

No, well, technically, if you're on the social housing waiting list, you have been deemed to be in need of the social house. And I think that the most recent there was around 56 between 56, 60,000 people, 60,000 households.

Ciara Kelly (2:36)

OK.

So they'd all be eligible to apply for HAP if they wanted to. If you apply for HAP, do you lose your place on the social housing waiting list?

Ber Grogan (2:44)

No, but what can get again complicated. We don't make anything easy in this country, do we? But if you get a HAP property, technically you're deemed to have your housing need met and you will be taken off the social housing list unless you apply to go on the transfer list. So definitely over the 12 years of HAP, people have lost their places.

Ciara Kelly (3:04)

And do some people decide not to take HAP on the basis that they might lose their place on the list? Or is that not a thing?

Ber Grogan (3:13)

I think years ago, that was a thing. When it came out first, there was also the rental accommodation scheme, which was much more secure because if your landlord decided to exit the rental accommodation scheme, the local authority had to rehouse you somewhere. Whereas with HAP, a lot of those safeguards were taken away, which is why those of us working in the area have have raised concerns for a long time about HAP.

Ciara Kelly (3:34)

All right. So 12 properties. I mean, it sounds like a drop in the bucket.

What do people do if they are eligible for HAP and there are no HAP properties available? What happens then in practice in the normal run of events?

Ber Grogan (3:49)

Yeah. And I suppose even within the 12 that are available, they're all in Dublin, Kildare and Dundalk. So Midlands West. And obviously, just to say, I know the government have come out about our report. It's a snapshot study over three days. It's 16 areas. It's on daf.ie. There are other ways that people might find HAP.