Call for ‘rapid’ social housing delivery as over 1,600 in HAP households in Donegal

A Donegal councillor has issued an urgent call for the rapid delivery of additional social housing units across Donegal.

Cllr Declan Meehan is warning that continued over-reliance on the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is failing families, older people, and the wider rental market. 

Figures released to Cllr Meehan at the January plenary Council meeting in Lifford show that 1,612 households are in HAP tenancies in Donegal.

Cllr Meehan said that the current number of households in receipt of HAP in Donegal represents a clear failure to provide adequate, secure social housing.

“Every household currently reliant on HAP should, as a matter of principle, be living in a proper social house with a tenancy from Donegal County Council or an Approved Housing Body,” he said. “HAP was never intended to be a long-term housing solution. Yet it has become exactly that, trapping people in insecure private rentals instead of giving them the stability of a council home. People are at an increased risk of rent hikes and evictions, which we have seen a marked increase in over the past year.”

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He explained that placing social housing needs into the private rental market has serious consequences for everyone.

“When the State subsidises private rents through HAP, it drives up prices for all renters,” Cllr Meehan said. “It increases competition in an already overstretched market and guarantees insecurity - not just for HAP tenants, but for anyone trying to rent privately. This approach benefits landlords, not tenants, and it does nothing to create lasting housing security. In addition to this, the basic rate of HAP has not increased since 2016. Rent has doubled in Donegal in those ten years, meaning people in receipt of HAP are much worse off financially.”

Cllr Meehan also expressed deep concern at the number of older people, particularly those aged over 60, who are currently living in HAP tenancies. Fifteen per cent of all HAP tenancies, or 245 households, involve people over the age of 60. 

“It is completely unacceptable that people in their 60s and beyond are being left without secure housing,” he said. “At a stage of life when people should have certainty and peace of mind, they are instead living with the constant fear of rent increases or eviction. This is a clear sign of how badly the system is letting older people down.”

He stressed that moving HAP recipients into council-owned or council-managed social housing would have benefits far beyond the individual households involved.

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“Providing secure social homes would reduce pressure on the private rental market, help lower rents, and offer far better value for public money than endlessly subsidising private landlords,” Cllr Meehan said. “Most importantly, it would give families and older people the dignity and security of a permanent home. It would also make sourcing rental accommodation for DCB-affected families and individuals much easier.”

Cllr Meehan is calling on the Government and Donegal County Council to urgently accelerate social housing construction and acquisition in the county, with a clear priority given to transitioning households currently dependent on HAP into secure council tenancies, as well as those who are aged over 60.

“People in Donegal need housing security, not a market subsidy,” he concluded. “Housing security must be treated as a basic right, not something people are expected to gamble on in the private market.”