COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, October 12, 2020
QUESTION NO.12
QUESTION: Councillor M. Johansson
To ask the Chief Executive to provide a report on the average length of time it takes to approve HAP applications on a month by month basis since the start of 2020?
REPLY:
The tiemeframes for processing Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) applications are impacted by the various work processes agreed with the national HAP Shared Services centre hosted in Limerick County Council. Inparticular it should be noted that HAP processing times in South Dublin generally are a result of an approach where incomplete HAP applications are accepted to allow applicants to secure a HAP tenancy, with a commitment to follow up with outstanding documentation from landlord and/or applicants – while this approach has mitigated potential homelessness from the private rented sector and it was also relaxed further during Q2 given the prevailing circumstances and the importance of facilitating tenancies being secured, it does result in longer processing times especially when coupled with COVID 19 restrictions while the Council adapted to the new working environment and additional work regarding rent amendments which have been processed.
To date in 2020 350 new HAP tenancies have been established in South Dublin with all approved HAP applications will be backdated to the date the initial application was received by South Dublin County Council. These are the average times /days for HAP applications in 2020 from date received to sign up are as follows:
|
Jan |
78.71 |
|
Feb |
59.25 |
|
Mar |
91.82 |
|
April |
44.20 |
|
May |
41.22 |
|
June |
40.58 |
|
July |
53.11 |
We have been reviewing our approach together with that of other local authorities and are doing the following to improve the average processing times:
- Review of our HAP approval process to restrict amount of follow-up documentation required
- Earlier engagement with landlords on required documentation
- Ongoing monitoring of specific complicated cases to improve resolution times where possible
In addition, we are planning a communications review of all HAP material sent to applicants to ensure improving the awareness of the need for required supporting documentation when submitting an application as well as more rigorous follow-up where required – which will be enhanced with using the customer portal from our new integrated housing system.