Just 43 Hap rental properties found in latest survey

Michael Bolton

There were only 43 properties available to rent under the Hap scheme across the entire country in June.

The latest Locked Out of the Market report from the Simon Communities found no Hap properties in 10 of the 16 areas it surveyed, including in Athlone, Leitrim, and Cork and Limerick city centres.

The report found 1,178 properties were available to rent at any price within the 16 areas surveyed over the three dates surveyed in June 2024.

This is a 26 per cent increase from the 934 properties available in the June 2023 Locked Out report.

The supply of properties within Hap limits are predominantly in Dublin.

40 of the total 43 Hap properties were found in Dublin.

In Dublin, the discretionary rate allows up to an additional 50 per cent on the standard rate. This is limited to 35 per cent elsewhere in the country.

Just three properties were available within standard HAP limits across the 16 areas.

Two of these properties were in Dublin City North and the other property was in Dundalk, Co. Louth.

Executive Director of Simon Wayne Stanley says a fund to build more social housing is urgently needed.

"We believe you can get up to 12,500 next year and up to 15,000 the year after. That requires significant funding, and that will have to be part of the budget considerations.

"We also need to see homelessness prevented, and we need to see ring-fenced additional funding going into homeless prevention in the next budget that can be spent in 2024."