Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 December 2016
207. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the amount his Department paid on bed and breakfast accommodation due to the severe housing crisis in each of the years from 2014 to 2016 to date by county, in tabular form. [38811/16]
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. My Department does not fund any service directly but provides funding to lead housing authorities on a regional basis.
Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities. 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 services from their own resources. Housing authorities may also incur additional expenditure on homeless related services outside of the Section 10 funding arrangements. Accordingly, the specific amounts incurred by individual housing authorities in relation to B&B type accommodation are a matter for the housing authorities concerned.
