Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 22 Oct 2024
ONLY 33 RENTAL properties are currently possible to access with the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) discretionary rate in 16 surveyed local authority areas.
The Simon Communities of Ireland’s quarterly Locked Out of the Market report for October 2024 shows 33 properties were available to rent within the discretionary HAP rate, marking a fall of 23% since June.
In 12 of the 16 areas, there were no properties available to rent within either the standard or discretionary HAP limits.
The surveyed areas with no HAP-qualified properties were Athlone, Cork City Centre, Cork City Suburbs, Dundalk, Galway City Suburbs, Galway City Centre, Co. Leitrim, Limerick City Suburbs, Limerick City Centre, Sligo Town, Portlaoise and Waterford City Centre.
25 (76%) of the total 33 HAP properties were found in local authority areas in Dublin.
Only two properties were available to “single person/couple” households without children through a standard HAP rate – one in Dublin City South and one in Dublin City North. There were another eight properties available for single person/couple households within discretionary HAP limits, which were located in Dublin City North (six properties), Dublin City South (one property) and Dublin City Centre (one property).
There were no properties available to couple/one parent households with one child through a standard HAP rate and just 16 properties available through discretionary HAP rates, almost all of which were in Dublin except for two in Kildare.
For couple/one parent households with two children, there was only one property available at the standard HAP rate (in Dublin City Centre) and 22 properties through discretionary HAP rates, 16 of which overlapped with properties available to families with one child. The other six properties were in Dublin City North (one), Dublin City South (three ), Dublin City Centre (one) and Kildare (one).
Executive Director at the Simon Communities of Ireland Wayne Stanley described the situation as a “continuation of the picture we have been seeing for a number of years now.”
“For those reliant on a HAP payment, there is very few opportunities to secure a home, unless you have additional income to top up the payment,” Stanley outlined, adding that that families and individuals are spending longer in homelessness as a result.
“We are all witnessing the consequences in the monthly growth in the number of men, women and children in homeless emergency accommodation,” he said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
For as long as we don’t have control of our currencys value and hang our economic performance solely on exports instead of growing our domestic economy, we will only ever know ‘uncertainty’.
The sad reality of the system is werejammin that any export performance is devoured by our debts owed due to bonds, bailouts and guarantee schemes.
The countries citizens, politicians, civil servants (and economists from what I hear them advise), are completely ignorant of the rules of the money game. We are being cleaned out at the poker table.
Back to Basics once again. If you think going back to the markets is a good thing, contact your local psychiatrist immediately. Going back to the markets is selling bonds – literally increasing our bondage – to bankers. It is getting into even more debt and paying back bankers in chunks of our countries real physical assets – infrastructure, water systems, airports, oil and gas etc.
The public demand their free “entitlements”, politicians will not say no. The borrowing continues. Our debt spirals.
There’s nothing good about piling up borrowing, getting deeper in debt. The whole monetary system is a racket, and at this stage none of the worlds public debt can ever be paid back.
have your say