THERE IS A drastic shortage of housing available for people looking to make use of the Housing Assistance Payment (Hap) Scheme as a way of securing a home, new figures indicate.

According to a new report by Simon Communities of Ireland, the shortfall is particularly acute outside Dublin with several major urban areas lacking any Hap tenancy at all.

These include the city centres of Cork, Galway and Limerick. Large towns across the country were also without a single Hap tenancy, including Sligo town, Portlaoise and Athlone.

In total half of the 16 areas surveyed had no properties available to rent in any household category within standard or discretionary Hap limits.

The housing charity’s Locked Out of the Market report -taking a snapshot of the housing market during December of last year – found 46 properties were available to rent within the discretionary rate of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme.

This is a 10%increase in properties since September 2024.

The report found 1,233 properties were available to rent at any price within the 16 areas surveyed over the three dates surveyed. This was a 7% increase from the 1,149 properties available in the December 2023 Locked Out report.

The discretionary limit allows an applicant to exceed the Hap rent limits by up to 50% for homeless households, if necessary to secure accommodation.

Lowest number of properties

Portlaoise had the lowest number of properties available to rent with just three properties available across the three days.

Two of the 16 study areas saw a reduction in the number of properties available to rent – these include Athlone (two properties) and Cork City’s suburbs (seven properties).

Interim executive director at the Simon Communities of Ireland Tony Geoghegan said the findings were “stark” and showed “little to no improvement”.

He also called for a “dedicated homeless prevention strategy” to improve the private rented sector.

“The trend is clear: Hap recipients are finding it increasingly difficult to secure suitable accommodation. Outside of Dublin is certainly a bigger challenge, with no properties available in eight of the 16 areas studied,” Geoghegan said.

“In the past, the Private Rented Sector was one of the main avenues for people to exit homelessness. However, this is no longer the case.”