A homelessness charity says private rented accommodation is beyond reach for people in receipt of the housing assistance payment in Waterford City.
The Simon Community studied property listings for Ireland's main towns and cities over three days at the end of September.
Of the 34 homes available in Waterford City Centre at the time, none were available within the HAP limits.
Paul Sheehan is from South East Simon Community.
"In terms of Waterford, what we found in September was that there were no properties for any household type available to rent within the housing assistance payment limits."
He says a single person in receipt of HAP receives just €430.
"The cheapest property to rent in Waterford, a one-bedroom property, was €590 per month, the most expensive was €800 per month, that's well beyond the reach of someone depending on the HAP payment."
Paul Sheehan says for people experiencing homelessness there is a discretionary 20% payment on top of the limit but "even with that discretion applied, it's still out of reach of people".
He added that "anyone who is stuck in emergency accommodation and depending on the private rented sector to exit homelessness, they're pretty much locked out of the market."
Our latest Locked Out of the Market report shows a chronic lack of supply of affordable private rental accommodation across the country, with eight of the 16 study areas shows no properties available within HAP rates. #lockedouthttps://t.co/h5O1HJiHsz pic.twitter.com/F4h550kbr6
— Simon Communities (@SimonCommunity) November 2, 2020
Waterford City Centre Summary
- There was an average of 34 properties available in Waterford City Centre over the course of the three days of this snapshot study. This represents a decrease of 39% from the 56 properties in the June 2020 study.
- Of those 34 properties, no properties were available within standard or discretionary HAP limits across the four household categories.
- There had been no properties available for households consisting of singles, couples or families with one child in the June 2020, March 2020, December 2019, July/August 2019, April 2019 and November 2018 reports.
- For the one-bedroom properties available, monthly rents in Waterford City Centre ranged from €590 to €800. The median rate ranged between €590 and €727 over the three days.
- For two-bedroom properties available, monthly rents in Waterford City Centre ranged from €750 to €1,100. The median rent over the three days ranged between €800 and €900.
- For three-bedroom properties available, monthly rents in Waterford City Centre ranged from €950 to €1,200. The median rent over the three days ranged from €962 to €1000.
- According to daft.ie, rental prices increased by 0.2% in Waterford City in the year to July 2020.
