The National Implementation Plan for the Homeless Strategy provides for the development of a more devolved allocation-based system for the provision of accommodation-related funding to housing authorities with emphasis on increased decision making at local level, in lieu of the existing individual project based arrangements, to improve overall efficiency and value for money, and allow greater local decision making in homeless services.
Arrangements are being put in place to provide for the delegation of homelessness funding to the lead housing authority in each of the 9 regions. These arrangements will seek to ensure that the measures being pursued by housing authorities reflect the housing-led approach advocated in the Homelessness Policy Statement, that actions are in place towards achieving the target of ending long-term homelessness by the end of 2016 and that evidence to support progress will be presented through the reports on the indicators. While it is clear that a proportion of funding must be used to provide sufficient bed capacity to accommodate those in need of emergency accommodation, it is equally important that resources are channelled to deliver more permanent responses in a more focused and strategic way.
When I published the Homelessness Policy Statement, I announced a set of indicators which will be used to demonstrate the dynamics of homelessness as it is addressed. These indicators will give a clearer picture of homelessness in Ireland and, in quantifying its on-going extent, will support the bringing forward of realistic and practical solutions.
Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with the housing authorities. Under the new funding arrangements, responsibility for rigorous assessment, appraisal and decision making in relation to proposals and funding of particular services within the available allocations rests with the Management Group of the region led by the lead housing authority. My Department has no function in regard to decisions on operational matters. It is a matter for housing authorities to consider the ongoing funding requirements of particular services within the available allocations.
The regionalisation of homeless services follows Ministerial directions made in 2010 under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 on the establishment and membership of the Joint Homeless Consultative Fora and Management Groups. These regional fora are based on the statutory local government regions, with the internal division of the Border region into North East and North West regions. The regional approach is considered more appropriate as it helps to bring a more strategic perspective to bear on action to address homelessness, including avoidance of over-concentration of homelessness services in certain centres and promoting appropriate regional availability of services, consistent with need. My Department provides funding to housing authorities towards the operational costs of homeless accommodation and related services under Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988; €45 million is being made available by my Department to housing authorities in 2013 for this purpose. This amount represents a decrease of 3.32% on the 2012 outturn and this reduction has been applied on a pro-rata basis to each of the 9 homeless regional allocations for 2013. The table below outlines the allocation for each region for 2013. Housing authorities also provide funding from their own resources and the total available funding from my Department and housing authorities is expected to be approximately €50 million in 2013. In addition to this funding, in excess of €30 million is also provided annually through the HSE for health and personal social care related supports.
Funding in 2013 under Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988
|
Region
|
€
|
|
Dublin
|
31,322,223
|
|
South West
|
4,272,197
|
|
Mid West
|
3,399,336
|
|
South East
|
1,787,469
|
|
West
|
1,528,951
|
|
North East
|
879,963
|
|
Mid East
|
811,275
|
|
Midland
|
649,707
|
|
North West
|
348,879
|
|
Total
|
45,000,000
|
A Protocol for the Delegation of Section 10 Homeless funding has been agreed between my Department and Kildare County Council, as lead authority for the Mid East region. This arrangement provides for the delegation of €811,275 for homeless accommodation and related services to the Mid East region involving Kildare, Meath and Wicklow County Councils for 2013.
