Vol. 495 No. 1
89 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of people registered homeless with local authorities; if he has satisfied himself with procedures and timing in place for assessment of the numbers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19071/98]
The most recent assessment of the numbers of homeless people carried out by local authorities was March 1996 which showed a total number of 2,501 homeless people including men, women and other family members.
Assessments of homelessness are carried out by local authorities in conjunction with their periodic statutory assessments of local authority housing needs. The next assessments, including that in relation to homelessness, will be carried out in March 1999. I will be issuing guidelines shortly to local authorities in regard to the carrying out of both assessments. The guidelines will particularly stress the need to ensure that the assessments are comprehensive and fully reflect the extent of needs and homelessness in each local authority area.
