Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 April 2016
751. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the cost to the Exchequer for the provision of hotel accommodation to homeless families in County Dublin in the 12 months to 31 March 2016. [6290/16]
View answerMy Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities. I therefore have no function in relation to operational matters, such as amounts spent by housing authorities on hotels for emergency accommodation.
The purposes for which housing authorities may incur expenditure in addressing homelessness are prescribed in Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988. Under Section 10 funding arrangements, housing authorities must provide at least 10% of the cost of such services from their own resources. Furthermore, housing authorities may also incur additional expenditure on homeless related services outside of the Section 10 funding arrangements.
