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The number of active Housing Assistance Payment Scheme (HAP) properties in the State was 60,747 on 31 December 2021, an increase of 4.5% on the same date in 2020.
In 38 out of 166 Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) there were more than 500 HAP properties at the end of 2021.
In 14 LEAs there were less than 100 HAP properties at the end of 2021.
North Inner City in Dublin is the LEA with the most (1,586) HAP properties at the end of 2021 while Granard, Longford, is the LEA with the least (40).
Half of the LEAs had an increase in the number of HAP properties between 2020 and 2021.
The LEA with the largest percentage change from 2020 to 2021 was South East Inner City in Dublin at 49.1% from 224 to 334 HAP properties.
Drogheda Urban and Tallaght Central had the highest percentage of residential properties as HAP properties at the end of 2021, both with 7.9%.
In Arklow in Wicklow, Palmerstown-Fonthill in Dublin, Dundalk-Carlingford in Louth, and Kilrush in Clare, more than 45% of Residential Tenancy Board (RTB) registered tenancies were HAP properties at the end of 2021.
North Inner City in Dublin is the LEA with the most HAP properties at the end of 2021 (1,586), followed by Dundalk South (1,216), Clondalkin (1,116) and Tallaght Central (1,077). Outside of Dublin, there were 11 other counties that had LEAs with 500 or more HAP properties. Granard in Longford had the lowest number of HAP properties (40).
Of the 166 LEAs, 81 had an increase in the number of HAP properties between 2020 and 2021. The LEA with the largest percentage change from 2020 to 2021 was South East Inner City in Dublin where there was a 49.1% change.
The map below details the number of HAP properties as a percentage of the number of residential properties in each LEA at the end of 2021 (based on Eircodes, see map footnote for details).
There were 30 LEAs where this percentage is 4% or more, spread over 13 different counties. The LEAs which had the highest percentage of residential properties as HAP properties were Drogheda Urban and Tallaght Central both with 7.9%.
The map below details the number of HAP properties as a percentage of the number of RTB properties in each LEA in 2021.
There were four LEAs - Arklow in Wicklow, Palmerstown-Fonthill in Dublin, Dundalk-Carlingford in Louth and Kilrush in Clare - where the amount of HAP properties made up more than 45% of the RTB registered and active properties in the area in 2021. There were 21 LEAs where this percentage is 35% or more, spread over 10 different counties. Only five of the top 20 areas were in Dublin, while 10 of the lowest 20 were in the capital.
The graph below, Figure 1, presents the number HAP properties at the end of each year from 2015 to 2021 for a selection of LEAs - those with the most properties over different years. This shows that both the levels and trend over time vary by LEA.
While Letterkenny had the most HAP properties at the end of 2016 and Dundalk South had the most HAP properties for all years from 2017 to 2020, the number of properties in LEAs in Dublin have increased in recent years.
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the release, Justin Anderson, Statistician, said: “Following on from our 2020 release on the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme, we have now updated tables detailing the number of HAP properties at a Local Electoral Area (LEA) level per year from 2015 to 2021, as of 31 December in each year. This publication also has the year-on-year percentage change and the number of HAP properties as a percentage of all Eircodes and Residential Tenancy Board (RTB) properties in the area. A new table is also available detailing HAP properties at Electoral Division (ED) level. This analysis is facilitated by the increasing use of Eircodes in the HAP system. The Eircode is a key component of the National Data Infrastructure (NDI) which plays an integral part in facilitating the CSO to develop new and improved statistical products for the benefit of the citizen and policymakers.
There is a wide difference in the number of HAP properties listed within LEAs at the end of 2021: in 38 areas there were more than 500 properties, while 14 LEAs had less than 100.
The LEA with the most HAP properties at the end of 2021 was North Inner City Dublin with 1,586 properties. Half of the LEAs which have 500 or more HAP properties registered are in Dublin. However, there was also a geographical spread of LEAs with 500 or more HAP properties in 2021 across 11 other counties including Donegal, Galway, and Kerry.
There has been a year-on-year increase in the number of HAP properties listed across half of all LEAs from 2020 to 2021 and in more than 90% of LEAs from 2019 to 2020.
The LEA with the largest percentage change from 2020 to 2021 was South East Inner City in Dublin where there was a 49% increase in the number of HAP properties. The biggest percentage fall was 18% in Carrickmacross-Castleblayney in Monaghan. There were 18 LEAs with a more than 16% increase between these years, which were all in Dublin.
When looking at the number of HAP properties as a percentage of all residential properties in an LEA, Drogheda Urban and Tallaght Central had the highest both at 7.9% at the end of 2021. When looking at this just as a percentage of the RTB properties in the area, there were four LEAs - Arklow in Wicklow, Palmerstown-Fonthill in Dublin, Dundalk-Carlingford in Louth, and Kilrush in Clare - where this was greater than 45%."