The number of homeless HAP tenancies in Dublin has nearly doubled in five years, according to new figures that Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD says expose a growing over-reliance on emergency rental supports in place of long-term social housing solutions.
The data, obtained by Ó Broin through a Parliamentary Question to the Department of Housing, paints a stark picture of how far Dublin’s housing crisis has shifted in recent years and how the State’s response has struggled to keep pace.
From 11% to 19% in Five Years
At the end of 2019, there were 5,632 homeless HAP tenancies funded through the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), representing 11% of all active HAP tenancies nationally. That figure now stands at 9,423 — accounting for 19% of all HAP tenancies across the state.
Homeless HAP differs from the standard Housing Assistance Payment scheme in a critical way. It provides payments of up to 50% above the base rate, specifically for people who are either at risk of homelessness or already living in emergency accommodation in Dublin. It costs more, it reaches further up the rental market, and according to Ó Broin, it is increasingly the only form of HAP that Dublin landlords will accept.
“With landlords in Dublin now only taking homeless HAP tenancies, this figure is set to increase further,” he said.
Almost half of all HAP tenancies in Dublin are now being paid at the higher homeless HAP rate a concentration of emergency-level housing support in a single city that the Dublin Mid-West TD describes as a clear signal that social housing delivery is falling far short of actual need.
Dublin Bucking the National Trend
Nationally, the overall number of HAP tenancies has edged downward since 2019 — falling from 51,156 to 50,705. Dublin is moving in the opposite direction.
Combined Dublin HAP and homeless HAP tenancies have climbed from 14,117 to 19,981 over the same five-year period an increase of 41.5%. That divergence, Ó Broin argues, is not a statistical quirk. It reflects a city where private rental supply has tightened dramatically, where market rents have outpaced social housing limits, and where the gap between what the State builds and what households actually need has continued to widen.
The figures, he added, do not capture the full picture. Discretionary HAP increases of up to 30% for people at risk of homelessness outside Dublin are not currently tracked by the Department of Housing, meaning the national scale of emergency-rate rental supports is likely larger than the published data suggests.
A Sticking Plaster, Not a Solution
Ó Broin was careful to acknowledge what homeless HAP does achieve. For thousands of households on the edge of homelessness, the scheme provides a critical buffer keeping people in rented accommodation when they might otherwise end up in emergency shelter. That matters, and he said so directly.
But he was equally direct about what it does not do. Homeless HAP is not a substitute for a social housing tenancy. It places households in the private rental market at the State’s expense, with no security of tenure beyond the goodwill of a landlord, and at a cost to the taxpayer that rises every time a new emergency-rate tenancy is created.
“While homeless HAP prevents many people from becoming homeless, it is not a long-term solution either for the tenants or for the taxpayer,” he said.
What Ó Broin Is Calling For
The Sinn Féin TD used the figures to press the Government on several fronts. As local authorities finalise their new social housing delivery plans, he said they must account for total housing need in full not just council waiting lists, but HAP and RAS tenants as well, who represent a significant body of unmet social housing demand that risks being overlooked in headline targets.
He also called on the Government and the Housing Agency to bring their ongoing review of the HAP scheme to a conclusion, publish the findings, and bring them before the Oireachtas Housing Committee without further delay.
The core demand, however, was straightforward: build more social homes. Until new-build targets are set at a level that genuinely reflects the scale of demand particularly in Dublin and other major cities — the State will continue adding homeless HAP tenancies faster than it adds the permanent homes that would make them unnecessary.
