Written Answers Nos. 124-142
124. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of current services available in counties Louth and Meath for persons who find themselves homeless; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7891/16]
View answer125. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of emergency accommodation available to single male persons who present as homeless in counties Louth and Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7892/16]
View answer126. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of emergency accommodation available to single female persons who present as homeless in counties Louth and Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7893/16]
View answer127. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of emergency accommodation available to a couple or one-parent families with one child who present as homeless in counties Louth and Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7894/16]
View answer128. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of emergency accommodation available to couples or one-parent families with one or more children who present as homeless in counties Louth and Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7895/16]
View answer130. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the criteria that Louth and Meath county councils use in deciding on the hotels or bed and breakfasts to be used for emergency accommodation in the Louth-east Meath area. [7897/16]
View answer141. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide details of accommodation utilised for emergency accommodation purposes in counties Louth and Meath, including hotels and bed and breakfasts that are in regular use by both county councils, as well as those in occasional use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7945/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 124 to 128, inclusive, and 130 and 141 together.
My 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. In accordance with section 37 (2) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services, including accommodation, rests with individual housing authorities. My Department, therefore, has no function in relation to the issues raised in the Questions, which are a matter for the relevant housing authorities, in this case Louth County Council and Meath County Council.
129. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of funding allocated to Louth and Meath County Councils for provision of emergency accommodation for the years 2010 to 2016, in tabular form; the details of the portion of allocated funds that were drawn down; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7896/16]
View answerMy Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards the operational costs of homeless accommodation and related services under 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. Therefore, the exact amounts spent by housing authorities on homeless services are a matter for those authorities.
Exchequer funding is provided through my Department to housing authorities on a regional basis; Louth County Council is included in the North-East Region along with Cavan and Monaghan while Meath County Council is included in the Mid-East Region along with Kildare and Wicklow. An annual breakdown of total Exchequer funding recouped to both these regions, in respect of all homeless related expenditure, for the years 2010 to 2015 is set out in the table.
|
Exchequer Funding Provided under Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 |
||||||
|
|
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
|
Mid-East |
€906,842 |
€697,665 |
€839,146 |
€811,275 |
€928,489 |
€1,716,245 |
|
North-East |
€1,037,617 |
€912,250 |
€910,194 |
€879,963 |
€879,963 |
€996,849 |
While the 2016 allocations are currently being finalised, the funding needs of the various regions are kept under review on an on-going basis, taking account of known and emerging costs of services, and my Department has provided reassurance to all housing authorities in this regard.
131. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the cost of the provision of emergency accommodation in counties Louth and Meath for the years 2010 to 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7898/16]
View answerMy Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards the operational costs of homeless accommodation and related services under 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. Therefore, the exact amounts spent by housing authorities on homeless services, and different categories of service such as emergency accommodation, are a matter for the relevant authorities, in this case Louth County Council and Meath County Council.
132. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of persons who have presented as homeless in counties Louth and Meath for the years 2010 to 2016, in tabular form; if he will further provide a breakdown in terms of single males, single females; couples or one-parent families with one child and couples or one-parent families with one or more children. [7899/16]
View answerTraditionally, data on the number of homeless households were not quantified nationally on an ongoing basis. Some data on homelessness are available through Housing Needs Assessment reports; these reports, which were generally carried out every three years, analysed categories of housing need, including in respect of homelessness, but only where an application had been made to a housing authority. Accordingly, details with regard to a breakdown of homeless presentations for counties Louth and Meath for the years 2010 to 2016 are not available in my Department but may be sought from the relevant housing authorities.
The Pathway Accommodation and Support System (PASS) was implemented nationally in 2014 as a national information and management system for homeless services that are overseen by housing authorities. My Department collects PASS data from lead housing authorities and reports are published on my Department's website as soon as they are available at: http://www.environ.ie/housing/homelessness/other/homelessness-data.
133. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the average waiting time for an allocation of social housing in respect of a single applicant for counties Louth and Meath for the years 2010 to 2015 and to date in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7935/16]
View answer134. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the longest waiting time for an allocation of social housing in respect of a single applicant for counties Louth and Meath for the years 2010 to 2015 and to date in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7936/16]
View answer135. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the average waiting time for an allocation of social housing in respect of a couple or one-parent family with one child for counties Louth and Meath, for the years 2010 to 2015 and to date in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7937/16]
View answer136. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the longest waiting time for an allocation of social housing in respect of a couple or one-parent family with one child for counties Louth and Meath, for the years 2010 to 2015 and to date in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7938/16]
View answer137. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the average waiting time for an allocation of social housing in respect of a couple or one-parent family with one or more children for counties Louth and Meath, for the years 2010 to 2015 and to date in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7939/16]
View answer138. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the longest waiting time for an allocation of social housing in respect of a couple or one-parent family with one or more children for counties Louth and Meath, for the years 2010 to 2015 and to date in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7940/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 133 to 138, inclusive, together.
The oversight and management of housing waiting lists, including the allocation and transfer of tenancies, is a matter for the relevant housing authority in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated regulations. My Department does not collate the detailed data sought on an ongoing basis. The numbers and household breakdown on housing waiting lists in individual local authorities are subject to on-going fluctuation as households are allocated housing and new households are added to the list.
The results of the statutory assessments of housing need carried out as at 31 March 2011 and 7 May 2013 provide details on the number of households on waiting lists in each housing authority area on these dates, including the length of time spent by households on each housing authority list.
The 2011 and 2013 results are available on my Department’s website at the following links: 2011 Housing Needs Assessment (Table A6 refers):
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,27864,en.pdf .
2013 Summary of Social Housing Assessments (Table A2.8 refers): http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,34857,en.pdf.
The 2013 figures are the most up-to-date figures available on waiting list numbers. Further summaries of social housing assessments will be carried out on an annual basis from this year forward and will provide up-to-date and comprehensive data on the numbers of households qualified for social housing support on an on-going basis.
139. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amounts allocated to Louth and Meath County Councils for local authority housing repairs, retrofitting and returning vacant units to use in the years 2010 to 2015 and to date in 2016, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7941/16]
View answer140. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of funding drawn down by Louth and Meath County Councils for local authority housing repairs, retrofitting and returning vacant units to use in the years 2010 to 2015 and to date in 2016, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7942/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 140 together.
The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including the carrying out of pre-letting repairs and returning vacant units to productive use, is a matter for each local authority, is carried out under their ongoing maintenance programmes and is not ordinarily directly funded by my Department.
My Department does provide funding via a number of specific programmes to support local authorities in improving the quality of their social housing stock and in relation to vacant social units, the need to address a build-up of such units was recognised by way of a targeted programme of funding support introduced in 2014; prior to this, some funding towards the remediation of vacant units was available under the Department’s Energy Efficiency Programme up to 2012.
The funding in relation to vacant units is provided to compliment the efforts that local authorities make from within their own resources and has seen some 5,000 such housing units remediated at a cost of almost €60 million in 2014 and 2015. Other programmes that have supported local authorities in repairing and retrofitting their social housing stock in the years concerned have included the Remedial Works Programme and the Energy Efficiency/Retrofitting Programme, which commenced in 2013.
Allocations and funding received by Louth and Meath County Councils for the years 2010 to 2015 in respect of returning vacant units to use, the Remedial Works Programme and the Energy Efficiency/Retrofitting Programme, are set out in the following tables.
Louth County Council
|
Energy Efficiency |
Remedial Works |
Vacant Units |
|||||
|
Year |
Allocation |
Outturn |
Allocation |
Outturn |
Allocation |
Outturn |
|
|
2010 |
€565,000* |
€418,684 |
€275,000 |
€0 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
2011 |
€880,000* |
€171,209 |
€450,459 |
€202,613 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
2012 |
€440,000 |
€409,128 |
€700,000 |
€132,948 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
2013 |
€538,384 |
€182,866 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
2014 |
€425,095 |
€636,718 |
N/A |
N/A |
€256,000 |
€113,620 |
|
|
2015 |
€908,256 |
€879,880 |
N/A |
N/A |
€225,615 |
€292,279 |
Meath County Council
|
Energy Efficiency |
Remedial Works |
Vacant Units |
|||||
|
Year |
Allocation |
Outturn |
Allocation |
Outturn |
Allocation |
Outturn |
|
|
2010 |
€700,000* |
€124,902 |
€2,500,000 |
€1,336,513 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
2011 |
€470,000 |
€502,499 |
€1,707,019 |
€1,555,922 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
2012 |
€260,070 |
€519,410 |
€5,000,000 |
€5,027,538 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
2013 |
€466,198 |
€642,557 |
€132,609 |
€139,503 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
2014 |
€848,924 |
€676,837 |
N/A |
N/A |
€1,120,000 |
€1,037,501 |
|
|
2015 |
€760,453 |
€1,079,905 |
N/A |
N/A |
€755,000 |
€855,565 |
* The allocations for the Energy Efficiency Programme up to 2012 included support towards dealing with vacant units.
142. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government why there has been no funding approval for the community centre facility part of the Drumillard housing project being built by the Castleblayney Care Housing Association, County Monaghan; if he is aware that the delay in approving funding for the facility has meant that eight persons cannot move into the recently constructed group home facility; to make a commitment to fast-tracking approval for the facility before planning permission expires on the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7948/16]
View answerMy Department is providing €2.3 million through the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS) to Monaghan County Council for the construction by Castleblayney Care Housing Association of 18 units of accommodation at Drumilliard, Castleblayney, County Monaghan, to cater for persons with disabilities. I understand that this project is largely complete and 10 of the 18 units have tenants allocated to them.
A second application has been submitted by the Council for the provision of an additional two units of accommodation on this site, along with a communal facility, by the same approved housing body. A decision on funding for this second proposal will be made following the full completion of the first project, to include the submission of the final account, a post-project review and confirmation from Monaghan County Council that all units provided under the first project are fully tenanted.
My Department has not been made aware that the tenanting of the remaining eight units under the largely complete project is contingent of the construction of a communal facility on the site and that was not part of the project application. More broadly, the provision of communal facilities on a CAS-funded housing scheme is, in general, to improve the occupants’ living conditions and is not intended to be used as a care support facility. Therefore, this should have little or no effect on the occupancy or tenanting of the units. I would strongly encourage the tenanting of the remaining eight units as a matter of urgency, to ensure that persons who are in most need can avail of this newly developed facility.
