Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 February 2012
12Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government the steps he has taken to ensure that persons coming out of a period of homelessness can be housed in suitable accommodation for their needs; and the funding in place for this. [5913/12]
View answer29Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government the steps he is taking to ensure that persons coming out of a period of homelessness can be housed in suitable accommodation for their needs; and the funding in place for this. [5919/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 29 together.
The programme for Government is committed to adopting a housing first, housing led approach to homelessness and to ensuring more effective prevention strategies. There is no single solution to increasing the level of social housing supply for the homeless and maximising delivery will require flexible and diverse approaches. The initial emphasis will necessarily be on the Dublin region, where homeless numbers are most acute, and moving away from the current over reliance on emergency accommodation provision to a more permanent accommodation solution. This is to be achieved through a number of measures including: directly linking the provision of funding with specific targets and outcomes; making better use of the existing available accommodation units in the local authorities and in the voluntary sector; additional social housing provision through acquisitions and remedial works or upgrading of vacant local authority housing stock and a leasing programme; ongoing engagement with NAMA to secure properties; targeted use of the rental accommodation scheme; an enhanced role for the private rental sector; better co-ordination with the voluntary and co-operative housing sector; and the establishment of homeless action teams across all regions.
My Department's funding provision for the running costs of homeless accommodation and related services for 2012 is €50 million, which together with 10% provided from housing authorities' own resources, brings the total available funding to €55.55 million in 2012. This level of funding means that there will be no reduction in the provision of essential front line support services.
The date set for ending homelessness passed and we never succeeded in meeting our goal. There is talk about a strategy being put in place by 2013 or 2014 but does the Minister of State seriously believe this is a realistic date? I do not believe it is achievable. Has a timeline been set out for the homelessness strategy? At this moment people are sleeping on the streets outside Leinster House, which is a terrible indictment of our society.
I agree we must do all we can on homelessness. This was one of the priorities I outlined when I was appointed to my position of Minister of State with responsibility for housing. A substantial sum, €50 million, has been allocated to the issue, in addition to the funding provided by local authorities. We have to ensure it is spent in a way that provides homes, which is the best response to homelessness. That will necessitate supporting vulnerable people in their homes in many cases because they will not always be able to survive on their own. Some of the voluntary associations and statutory bodies have been strong at providing that kind of support and the strategy for Dublin is focused on the best use of resources.
All of us want to end homelessness at the earliest opportunity but I do not think funding is the problem. Some people need a lot of support in terms of being provided with secure homes and we have to focus our policies on that.
Written Answers follow Adjournment.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.50 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Friday, 3 February 2011.
