Nearly 60,000 people received housing assistance payment last year

HAP, a form of social housing support provided by all local authorities, has become a lifeline for many during the housing crisis of recent years. Picture: PA

More than a fifth of new Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) households were referred from homeless services last year, with new data from the CSO also showing that 57,630 people were on the payment last year.

HAP, a form of social housing support provided by all local authorities, has become a lifeline for many during the housing crisis of recent years and the CSO report showed that as recently as 2015, some 5,570 households were availing of it.