Rent supplement report ‘not credible’, Government says
The Government has challenged the credibility of a report by the Simon Community which found that the vast majority of rental properties in our cities and larger towns are beyond the reach of those in receipt of state housing supports.
A report published yesterday by Simon Communities in Ireland, entitled Locked out of the Market XI, said 92% of all properties available to rent were above rent supplement (RS)/housing assistance payment (HAP) limits.
The claim is based on a snapshot taken over three consecutive days in May drawing on details obtained from Daft.ie.
The report concluded that increases in RS/HAP limits introduced in July 2016 “are ineffectual”.
The report looked at rents in Cork, Dublin, Limerick and Galway city centres, as well as a number of larger towns such as Dundalk, Portlaoise and Kildare.
In response, the Government said the report is “based on data from a single website which does not actually show the true picture”.
However, Daft.ie does purport to be “Ireland’s largest property website”.
Defending its record, the Department of Housing said it continues to provide housing solutions for 350 new households per week using HAP/RAS. And that the HAP scheme “is working very effectively and has delivered very well for the 32,000+ active households being supported at the end of 2017”.
The department said HAP is now available in all 31 local authorities and that almost 18,000 additional HAP tenancies were supported during 2017, a figure that remained static in 2018.
The department said there are “always pockets where it is challenging with rents” and that they have provided flexibility to agree to a HAP payment up to 20% above the maximum rent limit, because of local rental market conditions.
In respect of Homeless HAP in the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) region, there is flexibility to agree to a HAP payment up to 50% above the maximum rent limit, because of local rental market conditions.
However, a report published today by Daft.ie shows that rents rose nationwide by an average of 12.4% in the year to June 2018, the ninth consecutive quarter in which a new all-time high for rents has been set.
Niamh Randall, spokeswoman for the Simon Communities said urgent measures to enhance security of tenure and introduce rent certainty are needed.
