State spending on rent subsidies tops €1bn for the first time
The Government is making the rental crisis worse by renting and leasing thousands of homes instead of creating additional supply, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O'Callaghan.
Annual State spending on private rent subsidies and leasing measures has topped €1bn.
The Government has been accused of making the housing and rental crisis worse by relying on the private market instead of providing social housing to people who need it.
More than €1.22bn was spent on rent subsidies for those in the private rental market and on long-term leasing of social homes by the Government last year.
However, this figure is likely to increase again this year after Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien announced that his department will provide for an increase in the Housing Assistance Payment (Hap) discretion rate to 35% and to expand the couples rate to single persons.
Figures provided to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O'Callaghan show that €542m was spent on HAP in 2021.
On top of this €129.9m was paid out in rent supplement and €122m was spent on on the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS).
Another €271.9m was paid out under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), which includes funding provided for payment and availability arrangements under the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) Scheme, Approved Housing Body (AHB) leasing, local authority leasing, Mortgage to Rent, NARPS, repair and leasing, and unsold affordable units.
"The Government is now spending over €1bn per year on rent subsidies and leasing," Mr O'Callaghan said.
"The Government is making the rental crisis worse by renting and leasing thousands of homes instead of creating additional supply. This has put huge pressure on the supply of rental accommodation and is contributing significantly to spiralling rents.
"This over-reliance on the private rented sector is bad for the social housing tenants, bad for other renters and a bad use of public resources.
Mr O'Callaghan added: "At every turn, the Government's solution to the housing crisis seems to be to give more public money to the private sector. It's a failed approach. Instead of throwing money away, the State must get back to building homes and creating additional supply. That must include more affordable, social and cost rental homes."
Under Housing for All, the Government plans to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 homes per year over the next decade, including an average of 10,000 new-build social homes.
As new-build supply of social housing ramps up, the Government claims there will be reducing reliance on the HAP and RAS schemes. Long-term leasing will also be phased out by 2025.
Responding to Mr O'Callaghan, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said the measures provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.
"Since the introduction of HAP, rent supplement is reverting to its original role of providing short-term support to those who have become temporarily unemployed and require income support to meet their tenancy cost while they seek alternative employment," she said.
