Number of rentals covered by Housing Assistance Payment plunges again

Ottoline Spearman

The number of rental homes covered by the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) has plunged again.

Just 24 properties were available within HAP limits across 16 parts of the country last in September, a 25 per cent drop since June.

The Simon Communities of Ireland's latest report found that Dublin had nearly all of the available homes - 21 of the 24 - while Sligo and Leitrim had the lowest number.

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.

Just two of the 13 areas outside of Dublin had properties available to rent within any HAP limits. These included Dundalk (one property) and Kildare (two properties).

There were no HAP properties available in 11 of the 16 areas – these include Athlone, Cork City Centre, Cork City Suburbs, Galway City Suburbs, Galway City Centre, Co Leitrim, Limerick City Suburbs, Limerick City Centre, Sligo Town, Portlaoise, and Waterford City Centre.

Six areas saw a reduction in the number of HAP properties available since the June 2025 report. These include Dublin City Centre (one property), Dundalk (two properties), Galway City Suburbs (one property), Galway City Centre (one property), Kildare (two properties), and Limerick City Suburbs (one property).

The report found 833 properties were available to rent at any price within the 16 areas surveyed - a 26 per cent reduction from the 1,119 properties available in the September 2024 Locked Out report.

Ber Grogan, Executive Director at the Simon Communities of Ireland, said: “The rental sector continues to fail those reliant on social housing supports in the private rental sector yet again.

"People on lower incomes simply cannot access affordable rental homes."

Mr Grogan said that the Simon Communities of Ireland had hoped that Budget 2026 would take meaningful steps to address homelessness, but that "it remains to be seen if the measures announced will make any tangible difference to people."

"Unless developers and landlords are obligated to provide social and affordable homes, thousands will continue to experience the trauma of homelessness," he said.

He welcomed the news that a review into HAP has commenced, but said "without an immediate uplift in line with market rents, the private rental sector will continue to be a main driver of people being forced into homelessness.”

Speaking on Newstalk, Dermot McCann from the Simon Communities of Ireland said HAP doesn't meet the rent requirements of landlords: "A larger percentage of landlords are no longer taking people with the HAP support scheme because it doesn't meet the rent requirements that they have.

"There are less properties out there available to homeless people to avail of through the HAP scheme."

For more information on the HAP scheme, visit www.hap.ie.