Just 8 per cent of all properties available to rent could be afforded by people on rent supplements, a new study has found.

The Simon Communities survey published today found one or no properties were available within Rent Supplement (RS) and Housing Assistance Payment (Hap) limits in eight out of 11 study areas.

This represented the lowest levels of availability of accommodation since the payments – distributed to help make renting more accessible – were increased in July 2016.

The study, Locked Out of the Market XI, was undertaken between May 1st and May 3rd, 2018, with information gathered from Daft.ie for Dublin city, Cork city, Galway city, Limerick city, Portlaoise, north Kildare, Athlone, Sligo town, Dundalk, Leitrim and Waterford city.

The report says there were just 530 properties available to rent across the 11 areas during this period, a 54 per cent decrease compared with the charity’s first study in May 2015 (when there were 1,150 properties available). And of those 530 properties, 92 per cent were unaffordable for those on Hap/RS.

Emergency The figures come

a week after a homeless mother and six of her children stayed in Tallaght Garda station overnight, after emergency homeless services were unable to find suitable accommodation for them.

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) has also warned that people living in emergency accommodation may be forced to move out of the Dublin region during the papal visit next week due to demand on beds.

The Hap payment is a form of social housing support provided by all local authorities. Under Hap, a local authority will make a monthly payment to a landlord, subject to rent limits, on a tenant’s behalf. The scheme allows tenants to work full-time while also keeping their housing support.

Niamh Randall, national spokeswoman for the Simon Communities, said the figures indicate that increases in rent supplement and Hap introduced in July 2016 “are no longer effective”.

“The Government’s Rebuilding Ireland plan is heavily reliant on the private rental sector to deliver social housing through the Housing Assistant Payment and this is problematic because the supply simply is not there,” she said.

A spokesman from the Department of Housing said the Simon Community report was “based on data from a single website which does not actually show the true picture.

“We continue to provide housing solutions for 350 new households per week using HAP/RAS.”

The Department said the HAP scheme is working “very effectively” and has delivered “very well” for the 32,000 plus households being supported at the end of 2017.