THE AVAILABILITY OF properties to rent through the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) dropped 43% between March and June, a homelessness charity has reported.

The latest quarterly report by the Simon Communities of Ireland outlines that the availability of affordable properties for people relying on the HAP scheme has dropped again amid persistent concerning housing trends.

The charity’s head of policy and communications has described current housing and homelessness figures as “truly shocking”.

Across 16 areas studied in the Locked Out of the Market report, the number of properties available to rent overall dropped 70% year-on-year, while properties available to rent through HAP dropped a massive 95%.

The areas in the study were Cork city centre and suburbs; Dublin city centre, north city and south city; Galway city centre and suburbs; Limerick city centre and suburbs; Portlaoise; areas of Co Kildare; Athlone; Sligo town; Dundalk; Co Leitrim; and Waterford city centre.

For HAP scheme users, only two properties that were affordable under the standard limit and another 35 other discretionary rates were found in those areas.

In total, there were only 657 unique properties available to rent at any price within the areas, an 11% fall from 737 in March 2022.

The study says that outside of Dublin, properties available to rent within HAP limits are worryingly low, with nine of the 16 areas having no relevant properties available.

Wayne Stanley, Head of Policy and Communications at the Simon Communities of Ireland, said that the charity is “seeing homelessness numbers go up and the availability of affordable properties decline to unprecedented levels”.

“In May, we had 10,325 people in homeless emergency accommodation. These numbers are truly shocking.”

“We do acknowledge the positive intervention that the Minister for Housing has made with the increase in HAP rates. While it falls short of the 50% increase that we have been calling for, our study shows it will have a positive, if limited impact, in supporting those on HAP to secure a home,” Stanley said.

However, he said we “also have to acknowledge the depth of the crisis in housing”.

“That means we have to start looking for options that can create some breathing room in the housing system.”

“The 166,000 vacant homes identified in the census is a starting point. Attacking vacancy and bringing even 3% (5,000) of these a year into public housing system use for the next 2 years would give us that headroom.

“In the coming budget, we will be calling on the government to make that level of commitment.”