Number of HAP tenancies in Louth drops by nearly 10% in five years

The number of tenants availing of the Homeless Assistance Payments (HAP) in Louth has dropped by nearly 10% since 2019. 

New figures revealed by the Department of Housing show that there were 2,728 active HAP tenancies in County Louth at the end of Q3 of 2025. It marks a drop of 273 from 3001 in 2019.

The new figures show that the average monthly HAP payments to landlords by Louth County Council was €1,036.

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Nationally, the number of active HAP tenancies stands at 50,705, a drop from 51,756 five years previous.

However, the number of tenants under the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE), which operates the Homeless HAP Place Finder Service on behalf of the four Dublin local authorities has nearly doubled. 

The services now accommodates 9,425 tenants, up from 5,632 in 2019. 

Sinn Féin spokesperson for housing Eoin Ó Broin said: “In recent years, the number of active HAP tenancies has been falling. However, the number of landlords in receipt of homeless HAP payments has almost doubled.

Homeless HAP provides a HAP payment of up to 50% above the base rate for people at risk of homelessness or in emergency accommodation in Dublin."

Deputy Ó Broin said the increase in the capital "clearly demonstrates" that the government's targets for social housing are "nowhere close to meeting the actual demand". 

He called on the government and the Housing Agency to "urgently conclude their review of the HAP scheme" and engage with the Oireachtas housing committee. 

“Government must ensure that the new-build social housing targets are adequate to meet social housing need in order to reduce their over reliance on HAP and increasingly on homeless HAP," he said.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.