Number of homes accepting housing assistance payments drops 22% in three months
The Simon Communities of Ireland's (SCI) quarterly Locked Out of the Market report, from June, shows that just 32 properties were available to rent within the scheme.
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This is a drop of nine properties, down from 41, since March.
Ber Grogan, executive director at the Simon Communities of Ireland, repeated her call for an updated HAP limit.
The housing assistance payment (HAP) scheme is a social housing payment made to landlords by local authorities, and tenants pay a contribution to their local authority.
The report found 978 properties were available to rent at any price within the 16 areas surveyed over three dates in June.
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This is a 17 per cent reduction from the 1,178 properties available in the June 2024 Locked Out report.
There were no properties available in eight of the 16 areas, including Athlone, Cork city centre, Cork city suburbs, Co Leitrim, Limerick city centre, Sligo town, Portlaoise, and Waterford city centre.
Four of the 16 areas saw a reduction in the number of HAP properties available since the March 2025 report.
These include Dublin city north, Dublin city centre, Dundalk and Kildare.
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This lack of availability was across all household categories within standard or discretionary HAP limits.
Discretionary HAP limits include homeless HAP, the increased rate of HAP for people experiencing homelessness.
The supply of properties within HAP limits are predominantly in Dublin, with a total of 22 properties in Dublin.
Just five of the 13 areas outside of Dublin had properties available to rent within HAP limits.
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These included Dundalk, Galway city suburbs, Galway city centre, Kildare and Limerick city suburbs.
In Dublin, the discretionary rate allows up to an additional 50 per cent on the standard rate, but this is limited to 35 per cent elsewhere in the country.
Nathan, a Cork Simon service user, said: 'Most of the time you ring a place, it's gone. You get fed up of every day doing it and then you just give up for a while, depressed out of me head.
'You can't get out of it (homelessness). I don't seem to see a way anyway. And it's not for want of trying. A bed, a bathroom and a kitchen. Basics. Oh, I'd love it.
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'Come and go as you please.'
Sligo town and Portlaoise had the lowest number of properties available to rent, with just seven and two properties available in each area, respectively, across the three days.
Of the 16 areas, 10 saw a reduction in the number of properties available to rent, including Cork, and Dublin, Dundalk and Kildare.
Four of the 16 areas saw an increase in the number of properties available to rent, including Athlone, Galway city, Limerick city and Sligo town.
Ms Grogan said the findings of the report must act as a 'wake-up call for policymakers'.
'Do they care that the rental sector continues to fail those reliant on HAP? Simon certainly cares,' he said.
'With only 32 properties available under HAP across 16 areas and entire counties without a single option, people entitled to housing support are being pushed further into homelessness and essentially, left behind.
'The rental market is failing those most in need.
'We urgently need accelerated delivery of social and affordable housing, meaningful reforms to HAP rates, and a targeted strategy to prevent homelessness.
'We must ensure that hope is restored for those people who are locked out of access to this accommodation option.
'The Simon Communities of Ireland has been calling for updated HAP limits for many years.
'We welcomed the ombudsman's report on HAP and will continue to call for reform. Budget 2026 will give the opportunity to address this cause of homelessness before our next Locked Out of the Market report.'
Meanwhile, the figures show that there were four properties available to single person/couple households through a standard HAP rate.
These four properties were located in north Dublin, Dublin city centre, Galway city and Kildare.
There were an additional 12 properties available for single person/couple households within discretionary HAP limits.
There were no properties available to couple/one parent households with one child through a standard HAP rate.
There was one property available to couple/one parent households with two children through a standard HAP rate.
This property was in Limerick city suburbs. There were five properties available through discretionary HAP rates, and an additional 10 that overlapped with properties available to families with one child.
The five unique properties were in Dublin city centre, Dundalk and Kildare.
Ms Grogan said: 'It's particularly concerning given that one parent families are over-represented in the thousands of families and children experiencing homelessness.
'Does anybody care that nearly 5,000 children are experiencing homelessness? Simon cares.'
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