Report urges social housing rate review and appeals system overhaul

Oireachtas committee report to be published on Thursday and expected to be critical of Government action on homelessness

Housing Minister James Browne attending a sod turning ceremony for Richmond Village housing development in Fairview. Picture date: Monday April 20, 2026.

Social housing rates should be reviewed and a centralised appeals mechanism established.

That is according to the Oireachtas housing committee's report on homelessness, which will be publicly launched on Thursday, with sources saying it is critical of government policy and action on the issue.

The number of people living in emergency accommodation across the State reached a record high last month. A total of 17,548 people were living in emergency accommodation during the last week of April, according to figures published by the Department of Housing.

The total included 11,944 adults and 5,604 children across 2,707 families. The figure represents an increase of 31 people compared with the previous month and marks the highest number ever recorded in emergency accommodation.

The report recommends that the housing assistance payment (HAP) should be reviewed "to ensure that they are in line with market rent levels".

 

Housing minister James Browne has previously said his department is undertaking a review of existing HAP rent limits to "ensure there is sufficient support under the HAP scheme to assist eligible households in accessing accommodation in the private rental sector".

It had been intended that the review would be finished by the end of June.

The report also recommends that the Department of Housing engage with the HSE, local authorities, and NGOs to ensure those who exit homelessness have sufficient supports, that the tenant-in-situ scheme be supported and expanded, and that people in direct provision are supported "as early as possible" to ensure they do not exit into homelessness. 

The report contains a section of recommendations on ending homelessness by 2030 with which the committee recommends the Government engage.

The committee also recommends a "centralised appeals system for social housing priority status applications". 

This will ensure "transparency and fairness" around rejections, it says.

The report, which has been agreed by members of the committee from across the political divide, recommends that housing delivery action plans  to be delivered by local authorities should be standardised across councils and published by the Department of Housing.

Mr Browne last week admitted the homelessness crisis will “continue to be a challenge over the next couple of years” as he declined to say when homelessness numbers may begin to fall.

“It's going to continue to be a challenge over the next couple of years,” he said.

“That's reality. Our population is rapidly growing. We are scaling up housing delivery, But we do have that challenge of increased numbers of people seeking homes.

“It is going to continue to be a challenge; there's no question about that. But we are going to get ahead of it in terms of increasing the number of homes, social homes, cost-rental homes, and affordable purchase homes. Overall housing delivery is going up. I believe it will continue to go up.”