A 50% discretionary payment is needed by those availing of the Housing Assistance Payment in Cork, rather than the 35% announced by Government yesterday.
That's according to the Assistant Manager of the Tenancy Protection Service of Threshold in Cork, Conor Lynch.
Yesterday, the Minister of Housing announced that local authorities will be allowed increase the HAP discretionary payment by 35 per cent.
The rate in Dublin was already at 50 per cent and will remain so.
The couples rate will be expanded to include single people.
Speaking to RedFM News, Conor Lynch says the HAP base rate has been the same since 2017, when rents were more affordable:
"The changes are positive and we welcome them but there needs to the more radical reform of HAP to make it fit for purpose. Because, it's a 35% increase in the discretionary rate but the base rate stays the same for everybody but single people and the base rates haven't been changed since 2017. Some suggestions that we have for HAP is that there could be a system where HAP increases are looked at on a case by case basis. You see in Dublin, there's a 50% discretionary payment, and that's probably needed in Cork and Waterford and Galway and places because the rents are still extremely high".
