Homeless numbers will continue to increase unless the housing crisis is brought under control, a charity has warned, as latest figures show there was a reduction in the number of properties within the HAP rate available to rent.
Simon Communities Executive Director Wayne Stanley that "unless we get ahead of this crisis in the private rental market and start providing the infrastructural solutions that we need...we're going to see homeless numbers continue to increase, and that spread of increase widened out across counties."
The latest Simon Communities Locked Out of the Market report shows there was a reduction in the number of properties available to rent within the discretionary rate of the Housing Assistance Payment in October compared to June.
Thirty-three properties were available to rent within the discretionary HAP rate over three days this month - a reduction of ten properties (23%) since the last quarterly report in June this year.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Stanley call for HAP rates to be increased and bring more properties in the private rental market into the reach of more people.
Simon Communities found there were 1,119 properties available to rent at any price within the 16 areas surveyed. This was a 5% reduction from the 1,178 properties available in the June.
While studio apartments are not included in the overall figure for HAP properties in the Locked Out report, Simon Communities noted 29 studio apartments were available within HAP limits during the period in question.
Of the 29 apartments, 26 were in Dublin and the remaining three were in Kildare.
In October, there were no properties available to rent in 12 out of 16 areas, in any household category within standard or discretionary HAP limits, which was also the case in June.
The areas included Athlone, Cork city centre, Cork city suburbs, Dundalk, Galway city suburbs, Galway city centre, Co Leitrim, Limerick city suburbs, Limerick city centre, Sligo Town, Portlaoise and Waterford city centre.
As seen in previous Locked Out of the Market reports, the supply of properties within HAP limits were predominantly in Dublin where 25 (76%) of the total 33 HAP properties were available.
In Dublin, the discretionary rate allows up to an additional 50% on the standard rate; this is limited to 35% elsewhere in the country.
Three properties were available within standard HAP limits across the 16 areas. Portlaoise and Sligo town had the lowest availability.
Nine of the 16 study areas saw a reduction in the number of properties available to rent.
These included Athlone (one property), Cork city centre (two properties), Dublin city south (34 properties), Dublin city centre (28 properties), Galway city centre (three properties), Limerick city centre (14 properties), Sligo town (seven properties), Portlaoise (one property) and Waterford city centre (12 properties).
Turning to the availability of properties for a single person/couple households through a standard HAP rate, there was one property in Dublin city south and one property in Dublin city north.
There were an additional eight properties available for single person/couple households within discretionary HAP limits. These were in Dublin city north (six properties), Dublin city south (one property) and Dublin city centre (one property).
There were no properties available to couple/one parent households with one child through a standard HAP rate.
There were 16 properties available through discretionary HAP rates. Seven properties were in Dublin city north, five properties were in Dublin city south, two properties were in Dublin city centre and two properties were in Kildare.
For couples or a parent with two children there was one property available in Dublin city centre through a standard HAP rate.
There were 22 properties available through discretionary HAP rates, 16 of which overlapped properties available to families with one child. The six additional properties were in Dublin city north (one property), Dublin city south (three properties), Dublin city centre (one property) and Kildare (one property).
Mr Stanley described the latest report as a continuation of the picture that has been seen for a number of years.
"For those reliant on a HAP payment, there is very few opportunities to secure a home, unless you have additional income to top up the payment," he said.
"The Simon Communities are seeing the consequences of this when it comes to families and individuals having to stay longer and longer in homelessness.
"We are all witnessing the consequences in the monthly growth in the number of men, women and children in homeless emergency accommodation."
