The tax-free payment for homeowners who provide accommodation to people fleeing the war in Ukraine is to be cut from €800 to €600 per month.
Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley brought a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday outlining plans to reduce the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) by €200 and extend the monthly payment until March 2026, in line with the extension of the European Union’s Temporary Protection Directive. The reduction will come into effect from June 2025.
The draft order to extend the scheme and reduce the payment will be brought before the Dáil and Seanad for approval this week.
The €200 reduction was agreed upon “to mitigate any unintended impact” on the private rental market and to remain in line with recent policy changes in supports for beneficiaries of temporary protection, according to the memo.
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The decision to extend the payment until next year “aligns with a continued move away from a reliance on tourism and hospitality settings for accommodating”, it added.
The Government’s ARP system, which was introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a measure to encourage people to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees, was due to expire on March 31st, 2025.
The ARP was initially paid at €400, but was increased to €800 in late 2022 as pressure grew to find accommodation. Some €272 million has been paid to 22,900 hosts for hosting 52,000 Ukrainians since the scheme launched. The monthly fee is paid to a host per property and is not increased based on the number of people hosted in one home.
Some 114,768 Ukrainians have been granted temporary protection in Ireland since the war began more than three years ago. The latest CSO data indicates nearly 30 per cent of these have now left the country.
Some 37,500 Ukrainians, or 46 per cent of all Ukrainian refugees, are living in more than 15,900 ARP-supported homes and properties, up from 27 per cent in early 2024.
Ukrainian refugee advocacy groups say reducing the payment without a longer-term transition plan will “collapse placements, push people into homelessness, and undermines the humanitarian spirit with which we all opened our homes”.
Without long-term planning, the Government’s policy of moving people out of State accommodation and into private hosting arrangements “puts everyone in a vulnerable position”, said Ukraine Civil Society Forum co-ordinator Emma Lane-Spollen.
She said the decision to cut the payment will “create disruption” and will lead to hosts asking Ukrainians to pay rental top-ups.
“We would be concerned we will see a contraction in the number of people hosting at a time when we actually need to see people continuing to host,” said Ms Lane-Spollen.
“We still have 26,000 people in hotels, the war is continuing, solutions need to be found.
“We need a proper transition plan – hosting was never meant to be a long-term solution, and real consideration is needed to come up with a good approach that works for everybody and doesn’t put people in exploitation situations.”
The number of Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection living in State accommodation has dropped by 45 per cent since last May, with most of these moving into ARP and hosting arrangements.
Research carried out by the Helping Irish Hosts (HIH) grassroots non-profit company earlier this year found three quarters of hosts said they would not be able to continue supporting Ukrainians if the Government reduced the payment.
Separate research by the Irish Red Cross in February found 86 per cent of hosts said the payment was “important” to the continuation of their housing arrangement, while more than half said the introduction of the ARP motivated them to host Ukrainian refugees.
“With the best will in the world, people can’t host without a financial contribution,” said Angie Gough, HIH co-founder and chief executive, adding that reducing the payment “undermines” Irish people’s contribution to supporting Ukrainian refugees.
“We need a structured, fair transition plan to avoid further uncertainty,” she said.
The ARP has been a “cost-effective measure for the state in diverting thousands of beneficiaries away from State-contracted accommodation”, Minister for Children Norma Foley said on Thursday, adding that the announcement provided certainty to Ukrainians and their hosts.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan agreed that the continuation of the scheme provided “clarity and continuity” to hosts and their Ukrainian guests.
The Department of Children has said it is engaging with the Department of Housing on the potential impacts of the scheme on the housing market.
