'It's never going to be enough': Only 12 of 1,361 rental properties across Ireland within HAP limits

According to the Residential Tenancies Board rent index report for the first quarter of the year, the national standardised average rent in new tenancies was €1,839. File picture

The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is failing to help those most in need as rent prices and homelessness figures continue to spiral, according to the Simon Community.

The charity's latest ‘Locked Out’ report found that just 12 (1%) of 1,361 rental properties surveyed across Ireland over three days fell within the limits for HAP, a social housing scheme designed to prevent homelessness.

Under the scheme, a local authority pays a private landlord for rent, with the tenant paying a contribution fee to the local authority.

The Simon report showed an increase in rental properties on the market.  There were 1,361 properties available to rent in the third quarter of 2026, up 58 on the previous quarter, but eight fewer met HAP limits.

“It just shows that the extortionately high rental prices that are being charged, there are properties going for unaffordable amounts," Simon executive director Ber Grogan told the  Irish Examiner.

"But if you are on any sort of lower or normal salary and can't bunk up with six other people or something… you're being locked out of the market effectively, and your choice has been taken away from you.

“That division between affordability is getting bigger.” 

According to the Residential Tenancies Board rent index report for the first quarter of the year, the national standardised average rent in new tenancies was €1,839.

Simon service users described current social housing supports as inadequate. “It's never going to be enough," one states in the Simon report, while another says, “there is nothing there for me".

Under HAP, limits are placed on the amount of rent that can be paid to a private landlord. In Cork City, the HAP limit for a single adult is €550. Local authorities are permitted a discretionary spend to go 35% above the HAP limit, or 50% in Dublin.

The report found there were no properties available to rent anywhere in the country within standard HAP limits without local authorities using their discretionary powers to increase the payment threshold.

Accounting for discretionary spend, seven properties fell within the HAP limits in Dublin, alongside two in Kildare and three in Dundalk. There were no properties available within the limits in Cork, Waterford, Galway, or Limerick.

HAP has previously come under fire as poor value for public money.

'Imperfect' model

A 2024 report from the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee said HAP and similar schemes such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme "do not provide the State long-term assets, and are not effective, long-term solutions to social housing needs".

In a recent interview with RTÉ’s This Week, housing minister James Browne said HAP tenancies had been reduced to prevent a reliance on the private housing sector.

The number of tenancies which availed of the scheme has dropped from 62,000 in 2021 to 50,000 in 2025. Approximately €493m of taxpayer money went towards HAP schemes in 2025.

Ms Grogan said while HAP was an “imperfect” model, it remained necessary as a preventative measure to stop people falling into homelessness. As of August 2026, a record 17,885 people were recorded as homeless.

"In an ideal world, we wouldn't have as many HAP tenancies. People would be securely housed. But until the supply of housing is there, we do need HAP," Ms Grogan told the Irish Examiner.

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“If it was functioning properly, it should be a prevention mechanism, to stop people from being forced to experience the trauma of emergency accommodation.

“If someone was going to be evicted or has lost their job and has to sell their home, they have an option to avail of a HAP payment."

A review into the HAP system was commissioned by the Department of Housing in November 2025. No findings of the report have since been released. No changes to the scheme were announced in Budget 2027.