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JUST 27 properties were available to rent within the discretionary rate of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) sceme in September, according to a new report by the Simon Communities of Ireland.
The latest Locked Out of the Market report was published this morning.
The figure of 27 is the lowest number of HAP properties recorded by the Locked Out of the Market series.
The report found 901 properties were available to rent at any prices within the 16 areas over the three dates surveyed last month.
This is a 3.5% decrease from the 934 properties available in the June 2023 report.
Half of the 16 areas had no HAP properties available to rent in any household category within standard or discretionary limits.
These were Cork ciy centre, Cork city suburbs, Galway city suburbs, Co Leitrim, Limerick city suburbs, Limerick city centre, Sligo town and Portlaoise.
Under the HAP sceme, where local rents are high and tenants are under financial pressure, local authorities can choose at its discretion to increase the amount they pay. They can pay up to 35% over the official threshold.
75% (673) of properties available to rent at any price were located within the three Dublin areas studied.
Sligo had the lowest number of homes available to rent with just three properties available over the three days.
Portlaoise had six properties available during the study period.
Nine of the 16 study areas experienced a decrease in the availability of properties to rent.
These were Athlone, Cork city centre, Dublin city north, Dublin city centre, Dundalk, Galway city suburbs, Galway city centre, Limerick city centre and Limerick city suburbs.
“It is getting harder and harder to find rental accommodation in Ireland. This is one of the main drivers of the growing level of homelessness in Ireland,” Simon Communities of Ireland executive director Wayne Stanley said.
“It demands a greater response from Government, including in the first instance, an increase in the HAP rates. This is not a long-term or even a medium-term solution, but it would relieve pressure on those most vulnerable to homelessness,” Stanley said.
He added that “in the medium term, we need to see the Government working with local authorities to increase the allocation of public housing to those stuck in homelessness so that we see the number of exits increasing”.
“We all know that the answer to homelessness is more secure affordable homes. The best way for Government to drive this change is to increase the targets for social housing to reflect the growing need and then ensure the funding and policy is in place to meet those targets,” Stanley said.
As seen in many recent Locked Out of the Market reports, the supply of properties within HAP limits are predominantly available in Dublin.
16 (59%) of the total 27 HAP properties were found in the three Dublin areas examined.
Dublin has a discretionary HAP rate of 50% compared to 35% for the rest of the country.
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Young male foreigners who rip up their passports and other documentation upon arriving in the country have no bother getting houses and dole
@Mary Toilet: Asylum seekers are placed in direct provision not houses. They are also not able to claim the dole.
Which would you say you hate more, facts or foreigners??
@Kevin Collins: Ukrainians are not in Direct Provision, there’s a fact for you
@Mary Toilet: Yes, as they are in tents. Also, they don’t rip up their passports and are not “illegal economic immigrants” either.
Do you really think spreading the same old tired xenophobic tropes is really winning people to your cause?
@Kevin Collins: wrong, get your fantasy facts right
@Mary Toilet: but erm but ahh Ukrainian’s are FULLY documented. Another contradiction awithin 2 posts. OOPS.
@Mary Toilet: as per usual, you’re all over the place. One constant though is your xenophobic bile
@M Bowe: but not the ones coming in from EU countries, now that word has got out that Ireland is such a soft touch
Leo amd Michael, will tell you that all is well and they are doing a fantastic job. And it’s all Sinn Fein fault. You owned one house you pay tax even if can not afford the Mortgage payments. You owned 100 house you pay virtually none
@Jimmy Donovan: …and Martin wants to lease a jet for himself and other “ministers” can continue their world tours.
I’m afraid most Irish tourist destinations have been blighted by illegal economic migrants
@Mary Toilet: Donegal tourism RIP
All along the Wild Atlantic Way, hotels full of em
@Mary Toilet: kudos on knowing the difference between illegal economic migrants and legitmate women and children fleeing a full on war. I wish more people could tell the differen e.
@John.2024: More people did, including the Government. The freebies are coming to an end for the ukies.
@Mary Toilet: your a hateful bitter racist Mary, get help
Talk to yourself, not me
What a horrible person you are. Your parents must be proud of you
@Joe Kelly: grab your comfort blanket, I’ll bring you a hot chocolate with marshmallows
Scary how bad ffg have let things slide
I see where the FF MPs are getting scared now as well with big swing to the right.Andrews and Kelliher worried about losing their place at the trough.
@Willie Marty: Desperate leadership from Martin. In the space of 4 or 5 years, he will have merged with FG and go into government with SF.
Some smack of desperation off that kind of driving!
@Willie Marty: there are no MPs in Ireland. You have the wrong country.
@Joe Kelly: have u any intelligent point to make or do you just like to nit pick.
You can’t increase the HAP rates because this is also one of the reasons why landlords are putting rents up.
@Thomas Reddy:
Landlords don’t give a rats what the HAP rates are, they don’t want to know. That’s why the government had to bring in law to make it illegal for a landlord to refuse it.
@P.J. Nolan: and we have to ask ourselves why the landlords don’t want to know? We cannot just blame the landlords for the ills of housing.
@Thomas Reddy: no it’s the large developers building big complexes who started this raising and large current rent trend. They set the going rates , I remember when it started at the docklands in Dublin , that development was the start of the huge rents and this spread like fire throughout Dublin and now ireland.
@D M:
People will charge what they can get away with.
There is only one problem in housing in Ireland, not enough of them.
There is only one solution, build more.
Most of the schemes, rules and regulations this government have brought in and the opposition want to bring in will make no difference, some have /will make it worse.
Criticism of Israel is not anti semitic. Israel is a country not a religion
Semitism isn’t a religion you hamasbot
As far as I’m aware Semites are a people, an ethnic group, they predate both Arabs and Jews, they are both partial descendants of Semites. So Palestinians are also Semites. One could say both sides are Anti-semitic as both sides in the conflict are Semites or rather neither is Anti-Semite and it’s a war between Semites, if one side is to use the term, which it has been doing. So criticism of Israelis actions in this case may not be Anti-semitic because they’re attacking/defending against other Semites.
Hamas ham candle
@Mary Toilet: stupid remark as usual
@TheGood Feign: Partially correct. I have a description with a link below. Although it should be very familiar to a large amount of the people on this island as they are evidently ok with it.
For clarity and from the Oxford Reference:
anti-Semitism:
Hostility towards and discrimination against Jewish people (although there are other Semitic peoples, notably the Arabs, anti‐Semitism is only used to refer to prejudice against Jewish people).
https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095417471
It’s a disaster, should be a national emergency, people of Ireland are giving not choice that to leave. Goverment need to accept that Ireland is full indeed and stop immigration until people aready here can be house. If not, homeless families living in temporary accommodation or on the streets are going just to increase and increase. There isn’t enough places to rent for the amount of people already in.
@Niamh:
And it’s not going to change without more immigrant builders
@P.J. Nolan: there’s plenty of builders, there isn’t a shortage of date centres being built us there? I haven’t heard anyone say sorry we can’t build anymore data centres we haven’t the manpower. Theres also plenty of Irish builders in the uk (myself included) who would come home TOMORROW if there was any chance of finding somewhere to live without spending 3/4 of your pay on it. Good luck also convincing foreign builders to come over and stay in temp accommodation or pay 2500 a month in rent. There all getting the hell out because Ireland is far to expensive AND the value for that money is nothing. Until the government get the finger out and take on the investment funds driving rents up every week and build social housing nothing will change
@Martin Mongan:
Again with the BS about data centres.
There were 7 data centres built in Ireland in 2022 (Irish Times sept 2023) so even if you allow an average of 500 construction workers on each the most the total could be is 2% of the total number of people in construction in Ireland. Irrelevant.
You are right about the reason we can’t get or keep construction workers now is the high cost of living especially rent but the only way that will come down is more units, both public and private.
With the present shortage of builders more council houses (a good thing) will only mean less private housing and no real improvement.
That’s why we need to go further afield, Africa, South America and Aisa for workers, people who will live in cheap temporary housing to make a load of money quickly.
@Niamh: well the penny seems to be dropping somewhat in the dail but unfortunately the damage is done too little too late.
@Niamh:
~Stop immigration because Ireland is full? the phrase the racists/xenophobes use
Comments open
@Davy: ＜(“0 “)＞
There is about 1000 places to rent in Dublin County alone, not cheap and probably mostly institutional landlords, small landlords that would accommodate HAP have been and continue to be driven out of the market
@Allo Allo: minimum 2400€ monthly. And If you send a email you won’t get a answer for viewing.
@Niamh:
I’d say you would be lucky to even get an acknowledgement.
I know one small landlord who put a 3 bed house in south Dublin up on Daft at €1800 because that was the rent control on it.
He only had the add live for 35 minutes, got over 70 emails
We had tenants with HAP, what a nightmare, we got 5 red letters because the tenants didn’t abide by the rules, payment always late because of this, HAP cut them off in the end.
@Clare Power:
Only good news on that is the rules apparently have been changed, if the tenant stops their payment to the council the council will not stop paying the landlord.
@P.J. Nolan: good to know
@kevin Collins, the so called Ukrainian refugees are in houses and apartments,hotels and b and b’s.they get the full amount of dole, medical cards, childrens allowance.the ones in hotels and bed and breakfast get all their meals supplied but they still have the cheek to plunder the local food banks and take food they don’t need or have anyway if preparing it. They just take everything that is going for free and don’t need it. It’s about time we as a country started being more strict towards who we let into the country.
To the journal: what you need is to open the comments, but you have to change the rules. Use a registration that will need to be verified like the lotto used, so if someone is trolling, insulting, use inappropriate language and so on, she or he can be banned, sued, or whatever can or could be done. I am not sure the whole thing is possible or legal, but maybe the journal can write an article about its view on this…. And let the comments open ?
@Dominic Leleu:
Fully agree, people need to be able to held responsible for what they say on here but I think the world of AI will make it impossible to achieve.
Unlucky to live beside a house that’s in HAP, absolute dole merchants, no interest in work
@Markb: pity there isn’t a whole lot of benefit in working all the same,very thin line extra curry chips and tin of beans and the expectation from others that you’re better off,not by much for many.
Deleting comments is not going to make people’s opinions go away. The journal really is pathetic. Imagine going to university getting a degree in journalism or English etc and being part media outlet notorious for deleting facts and opinions. Yer an embarrassment
But But we build enough houses. According to an inferior housing minister.
‘late month’?
Plenty to choose from and all very reasonable I’m sure.
The government created this mess with their own policies. They deliberately failed to build houses in order to drive prices back up and increase property tax income. Open your eyes, and wake up people.
@MTB Mayo: Spot on:
“Soft Costs” have made housing unaffordable in Ireland.
Now at 51% as per the Report: VAT, Council levies, inflated land prices …
No VAT or other taxes on housing in other countries.
Because, as every Economist knows, housing is a basic need and fundamental requirement for life and so cannot be taxed as with food, water, medicine, healthcare, education … etc.
This is enshrined in the Constitutions of most other countries, France, Holland, Germany, Sweden …
The Irish Constitution is badly flawed in this respect and needs to be urgently fixed by a Referendum on Housing to upgrade it. Why is this Referendum not run with the 2 proposed next Spring? … “Far from Right” to prevent citizens from fixing this badly damaging aspect of the Irish Constitution.
No one can fix the Irish “Affordable” Housing crisis until this Referendum is passed – as clearly evidenced by the damming Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) report. ………… Not even Sinn Fein!
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