Housing Schemes

Tuesday, 19 May 2026

Questions (228)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

228. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total amount of public expenditure on Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and other rent supports paid directly to private landlords in each of the past five years; the proportion of these payments made to landlords owning multiple properties; and whether he has assessed the long-term cost-effectiveness of this model compared to direct State provision of housing. [37554/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

My Department publishes comprehensive programme-level statistics on social housing delivery activity in all local authority areas on the statistics page of its website. Data in relation to funding provided by the Exchequer for Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancies, the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) and other relevant delivery schemes under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), to end Q4 2025, can be found on my Department’s website at the following link:

www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/overall-social-and-affordable-housing-provision/

Q1 2026 figures are currently being compiled and will be published when that process is complete.

While overall expenditure on the RAS can be found at the link above, the attached table sets out the annual Exchequer funding recouped to local authorities in respect of rent payments made directly to private landlords under the scheme.

My Department does not hold data on the proportion of payments made to private landlords owning multiple properties.

The Government's new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, is an integrated housing and homelessness plan that reaffirms the whole-of-Government approach to addressing our housing needs. It sets a target of at least 300,000 homes to be delivered over its lifetime, including 72,000 social homes, and under the Starter Homes Programme, 90,000 affordable housing supports. As we continue to increase the supply of social housing, there will be reduced reliance on HAP, RAS and other current expenditure funded social housing supports.

My Department continually monitors the implementation of policies and objectives in relation to social housing and works to ensure the best value for money taking account of the level of housing need to be met.

Table: Total annual amount recouped to local authorities for rental payments under RAS to private landlords.

2021	€103,370,926.25
2022	€94,029,378.41
2023	€87,520,544.06
2024	€84,874,935.41
2025	€74,574,998.45