Charity's plea as no HAP housing available in Athlone

By Rebekah O'Reilly

The Simon Community of Ireland has made a plea for an increase in Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) rates outside of Dublin, as a new report shows a 28% reduction in property availability under the scheme.

In the October 2024 report by the Simon Community, 12 of the 16 areas surveyed had no properties available to rent in any household category within standard or discretionary HAP limits, including in Athlone.

Only one property has been available in Athlone under the HAP Scheme since 2022, during surveys, Rebecca Hamilton, Policy Analyst, Simon Community of Ireland has revealed.

“Athlone in particular has had only one available property within HAP limits in the last four reports dating to December 2023, and has had no available properties at all in the previous reports dating back to December 2022.

The standard HAP rent limit for a single person or a family of up to three children ranges from €450 to €650 in Westmeath, and from €360 to €550 in Roscommon, however councils have the discretion to go up to 35% above those rent limits on a case-by-case basis.

“Across the board outside of Dublin there are hardly any properties. In the last report, the only place outside of Dublin was Kildare."

The decrease in availability of HAP properties outside of Dublin has resulted in a scenario where record numbers of people are experiencing homelessness with few opportunities for an exit.

“The result is that people are spending longer in homelessness," she said, and although people are exiting homelessness sometimes for social housing, that is not occurring in the private rental market.

We've seen an increase in exits to social housing, however exits to the private rental market pretty much fell off a cliff in recent years," she said.

“The increase in exits to social housing has not been significant enough to bridge the gap between the fall of exits though the HAP.”

When asked what improvements could be made to ensure people can exit homelessness, Rebecca said changes need to be made at a Government level.

“The most immediate solution would be for the Government to increase the HAP rates outside of Dublin – which have not been increased since 2016.”

Rebecca added: “The long term solution would be for the Government to provide more social housing to keep people out of homelessness. You can't keep chasing runaway rents."