HAP is Born

An introduction to 2014 (the important Year)

A brief guide to HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) a major feature of the Irish rental market.

The Official blurb

“The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is currently available in all 31 local authority areas and to homeless households in the Dublin local authorities under the Homeless HAP pilot.

The HAP scheme is provided under Part 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014.

Once transferred from Rent Supplement to HAP, households are in receipt of a much more secure form of state support and crucially the linkage between their employment status and their housing need is broken. They can work full-time.”

Reviewing the information (in reverse)

1. You can work and have your rent paid for by the Government of Ireland.
   

   This is where HAP is not to be confused with Rent Allowance (Rent Supplement) via the Dept Of Social welfare to those in receipt of a social welfare allowances or benefits, designed to act as a housing support.

   
   Rent Allowance also has a much lower limit and cut off criteria compared to HAP.

   
   However you can receive HAP rent support, which has much higher cap on rents and “work full-time”.

2. HAP commenced in 2014 (important year)

   
   While HAP began in 2014, it was not rolled out nationally until 2017

3. There is another level of HAP called the Homeless HAP
   
   If you can prove your status as homeless, then you can become eligible to another tier of HAP, it’s called Homeless HAP.
   
   It is designed for those with an urgent housing need by having a higher rental cap than the normal HAP payments, i.e. more buying power.

4. HAP is available nationwide via all local authorities.

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PPS is the Key

Your PPS number is the key to opening the HAP door.

If you have a PPS number and have successfully applied to be included on the housing list in a local authority in Ireland.

Then you are eligible to apply for HAP as a tenant under a private rental tenancy.

It All Adds Up

In essence the Irish State is funding the largest singular tenant-bloc in the Irish rental market via HAP and Rent Supplement, the majority being via HAP.

For simplicity, it is assumed that by the end of 2022 the Irish state was subsidising approx. 74,000 tenancies via HAP across the country via local Co. Councils.

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Now you have a basic understanding of HAP and it’s origins over time.

The latest Housing List and HAP numbers are being compiled so click here to view

Citizen Iceberg