Councillor Mary Fitzpatrick has expressed her alarm in response to the introduction of a new scheme to replace rent supplement, stating that removing families that have applied for short-term rental support from housing waiting lists "will result in social disaster".

The Leader of the Fianna Fáil Group on Dublin City Council, Councillor Fitzpatrick said: "A provision in the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), which replaces the old rent supplement, will see families with short-term rental support removed entirely from the social housing waiting list.

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"Under the new rules people who are in short-term rental arrangements will be deemed to have their housing needs met. Similarly, people in short term schemes like the Rental Accommodation Scheme with 5-year tenancies will also be removed from social housing waiting lists.

"This is a deliberate attempt by the Government to manipulate the figures and so hide their complete failure to address the housing crisis. It will serve only to misrepresent the real situation; it will create a false picture of Dublin's growing housing crisis as waiting lists will not reflect the gravity of the crisis with thousands of people without a permanent home no longer being recorded in official figures."

(CD/JP)