The number of rental properties available within the discretionary limits of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme has fallen sharply, dropping to just 32 nationwide last month—a 22% decrease from March, according to the Simon Communities of Ireland’s latest Locked Out of the Market report.
The quarterly study surveyed 16 areas over three separate dates in June and found a total of 978 rental properties available at any price, marking a 17% decline from the 1,178 properties listed in the previous survey in March 2024.
Worryingly, eight of the surveyed areas had no HAP-eligible properties available at all. These areas included Athlone, Cork city centre and suburbs, Co Leitrim, Limerick city centre, Sligo town, Portlaoise, and Waterford city centre.
Of the 32 properties within HAP discretionary limits, 22 were located in Dublin, highlighting a stark urban-rural divide in the availability of affordable housing. Outside of the capital, only five of the 13 remaining areas had any HAP-eligible listings. These included Dundalk (three properties), Galway city centre (one), Galway suburbs (one), Kildare (four), and Limerick city suburbs (one).
The Simon Communities’ report examined availability across various household types—single individuals, couples, and families with one or two children—within both standard and discretionary HAP limits. Alarmingly, no properties were available through the standard HAP rate for couples or one-parent households with one child. Only ten listings were accessible through the discretionary rate for this group.
One property in suburban Limerick was found to be available for couples or one-parent families with two children under the standard HAP rate. Five more properties were accessible under discretionary rates for this category, with ten others overlapping with listings suitable for smaller families.
The Simon Communities’ Executive Director, Ber Grogan, described the findings as deeply concerning, particularly regarding the overrepresentation of one-parent families among those experiencing homelessness. She urged policymakers to respond with urgency.
“These findings must act as a wake-up call,” Grogan said.
The report also included the perspective of Cork Simon service user Nathan, who described his frustration and despair at repeatedly failing to secure a rental home. “Most of the time you ring a place, it’s gone… You get fed up… depressed out of me head. You can’t get out of it [homelessness],” he said.
Nathan’s words underscore the report’s broader warning: the current rental market is failing to meet the needs of vulnerable households, leaving many trapped in homelessness with little hope of relief.
