Number Of Active HAP Tenancies In Clare Increases Six Fold Since 2015

Photo (c) Brian A Jackson via Canva.com

The number of active Housing Assistance Payment tenancies in Clare has increased more than six fold in the last six years.

New CSO figures show nearly 1,300 such tenancies were operating in this county at the end of 2021.

 

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The Housing Assistance Payment is a form of social housing support for people who have a long-term housing need and is administered by the local authorities, including Clare County Council, who pay private landlords directly.

There are HAP limits in each area, with the highest in Clare being 550 euro per month for a couple or one adult with three children.

There were 236 such tenancies in this county at the end of 2015 according to the CSO, though that rapidly increased to 955 by the end of 2016.

Those numbers continued to increase year-on-year until the end of 2020, when 1,347 HAP tenancies were registered as ‘active’ in Clare by the Department of Housing.

Almost half of the current HAP arrangements here are confined to the Ennis electoral area, with Kilrush accounting for around 17 percent.

The areas of East Clare, North Clare and Shannon make up just 37 percent of Clare’s total HAP tenancies between them.

However, Clare has the lowest number of HAP tenancies registered in Munster according to the figures.