Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 October 2007
112 Deputy Alan Shatter asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will commit to making homelessness a thing of the past by 2010 as requested by the Make Room campaign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22745/07]
View answerThe stated aim of the Make Room campaign by Focus Ireland, the Simon Communities of Ireland, the Society of St Vincent de Paul and Threshold is to end homelessness by 2010. The Campaign has indicated that by this it means that "nobody will sleep rough; nobody will stay in emergency accommodation for longer than is absolutely necessary and nobody will become homeless because of a lack of appropriate services".
The social partnership agreement Towards 2016 contains a commitment to the elimination of the long-term occupancy of emergency homeless accommodation by 2010. This is well aligned with the goals of the Make Room campaign. It should also be noted that the Homeless Agency, which is the partnership body which coordinates homeless services in Dublin, has already defined as its overarching goal the elimination of long-term homelessness and the need to sleep rough in Dublin by 2010.
The Independent Review of Implementation of Homeless Strategies, published in February 2006, examined the implementation of the Government's Integrated and Preventative Homeless Strategies and concluded that they should be amalgamated and updated. The Government has accepted the broad thrust of the recommendations of the Review and work is under way on the preparation of a revised and updated Strategy on Homelessness. As part of this process, a National Homeless Consultative Committee, which includes representatives from homeless service providers (including a representative from the Make Room campaign), was established in April 2007 to provide input into the development of the revised homeless strategy and ongoing Government policy on addressing homelessness.
Very significant resources are being made available to address the issue of homelessness at national level in a comprehensive and co-ordinated manner. Since 2000, the Government, through my Department and the Department of Health & Children, has provided over €450 million in capital and current funding nationally for the provision of accommodation and care related services for homeless persons.
Nationally, through the work of the local homeless fora, there has been significant progress in reducing the numbers of homeless persons. In the Housing Needs Assessment 2005, local authorities recorded a 46% fall in the numbers of homeless persons nationally, from 5,581 persons in 2002 to 3,031 persons in 2005.
There is now a wide range of accommodation and services for homeless persons across the country — from emergency hostels, transitional accommodation programmes to outreach and resettlement services and long term supported accommodation. A key task and a particular focus of attention in the future is to assist homeless persons who can live independently to move into mainstream long-term accommodation as soon as possible. This will involve refocusing efforts on the provision of accommodation in the social, voluntary and private rented housing sectors, exploiting the significant potential of the Rental Accommodation Scheme in this area and ensuring the availability of appropriate outreach and resettlement support.
