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HAIL says demand for safe, secure and affordable housing for people with significant mental-health difficulties was “unprecedented” in the previous year. The Irish Examiner’s 1 October 2026 report describes the scale of HAIL’s housing work, its tenancy-support services and the funding and supply changes the association says are needed. The report does not give a numerical measure of demand growth, so “unprecedented” is HAIL’s description rather than a quantified trend.
What HAIL reported
Housing Association for Integrated Living (HAIL) is an Irish specialist housing association. The Irish Examiner reported that HAIL owned and managed almost 486 homes across seven counties, including 26 in Limerick; 71% of its housing was for people with mental-health needs. These figures are reported by HAIL through the Examiner, not an independently presented national count of housing for this population. Irish Examiner, 1 October 2026
HAIL chief executive Martina Smith said a secure, high-quality home was “a vital foundation for mental health recovery and stability.” She also stressed that housing alone does not complete the work: “Providing a key to a front door is only the first step.” HAIL works with HSE mental-health services, psychiatric units and community supports, and supports people in HAIL homes as well as other accommodation.
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The article’s headline refers to people with severe mental illness, while HAIL’s own releases often use “significant and enduring mental health difficulties.” The available figures do not establish that every HAIL tenant has the same diagnosis or that diagnosis by itself determines eligibility for housing or support.
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Housing and tenancy support are connected needs
HAIL describes tenancy sustainment as help for people with mental-health difficulties to maintain a tenancy and develop independent-living skills. Support can extend beyond HAIL-owned homes to people in private rented, local-authority and other social housing. That distinction matters: HAIL’s service totals count people reached by its programmes, not everyone in Ireland who has a mental-health-related housing need. HAIL, 2024
HAIL’s published figures show substantial annual service use, but the figures cover different years and populations and should not be treated as a single comparable trend without checking the underlying annual-report definitions and tables.
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| Reporting period | Reported figure | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 694 people; 17% more than in 2022 | People supported through mental-health tenancy-sustainment services, according to HAIL’s 2024 release. The same release reported sustainment of 99% for HAIL tenants and 97% for people in non-HAIL accommodation. HAIL, 2024 |
| 2024 | More than 700 people; 98% sustainment | HAIL said it supported more than 700 people through tenancy-sustainment services and reported 98% sustainment for its own tenants. The surfaced release does not give a directly comparable non-HAIL rate. HAIL, 2025 |
| 2026 statement | Above 98%; approximately €3,400 per person per year | HAIL’s opening statement to the Oireachtas asserted tenancy-sustainment rates above 98% at an average cost of approximately €3,400 per person per year. This is HAIL’s value-for-money claim, not an independently audited comparison with acute or residential care. HAIL statement to the Oireachtas, January 2026 |
How large is the housing need?
HAIL cited more than 1,600 people who identified mental health as the basis for their housing need in the Social Housing Needs Assessment 2024. In an earlier release, it cited 1,604 people on social-housing waiting lists who identified a mental-health diagnosis as the basis for need in the Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2023. These are figures attributed to the Housing Agency by HAIL; they relate to separate assessment years and should not be combined or read as counts of everyone who needs housing or support. HAIL, 2025 HAIL, 2023
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe 2026 coverage does not provide a numerical series for applications, waiting times, unmet referrals or demand by county. It therefore supports reporting HAIL’s warning about unprecedented demand, but not a calculation of how quickly demand has grown or where the shortfall is greatest.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What HAIL is asking government to change
Targeted access to new social housing
HAIL has proposed that at least 10% of new Part V social-housing units be allocated to people with mental-health difficulties. The association presents this as a targeted supply measure. It is a proposal, not an adopted allocation rule or a confirmed government commitment. HAIL, 2025
More predictable funding for homes and support
HAIL has called for viable capital-funding models to build or acquire homes, multiannual HSE funding, and better alignment between funding for housing delivery and tenancy-sustainment support. Its 2024–2028 strategic plan aims to deliver 300 additional homes and expand tenancy-sustainment services; those are HAIL’s organizational goals, not confirmed public funding or delivery commitments. HAIL statement to the Oireachtas, January 2026
The Irish Examiner reported that HAIL’s income included an HSE grant of €1,601,638 as well as rental income. That reported amount is not a complete account of HAIL’s current funding streams. Smith’s request for funding certainty reflects the association’s argument that it needs reliable resources both to deliver homes and to maintain support after someone moves in. Irish Examiner, 1 October 2026
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Why the figures need careful reading
- “Unprecedented” is HAIL’s qualitative description; the 2026 coverage does not quantify demand growth.
- Housing-stock figures, waiting-list assessments and tenancy-service totals measure different things and come from different reporting years.
- HAIL’s service and impact statistics are figures reported by the association; the high sustainment rates do not, by themselves, establish a causal effect or an independently verified comparison with other forms of care.
- The proposed Part V allocation and the requests for funding certainty are advocacy positions, not current policy commitments.
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