Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 July 2019
2937. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the estimated full cost of emergency accommodation in 2018; and the projected cost for 2019 and 2020 by local authority and type of emergency accommodation, that is, hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels and family hubs. [33565/19]
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 emergency accommodation for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities.
My Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards these costs. Under the 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 these funding arrangements with my Department. Therefore, the exact amounts spent by housing authorities on homeless services, as well as the types of accommodation are a matter for individual housing authorities in consultation with the Management Group of the relevant regional joint Homelessness Consultative Forum.
Exchequer funding for homeless services is provided through my Department to housing authorities on a regional basis. The table below sets out the funding recouped to housing authorities on a regional basis for the years 2016 to date in 2019. The total budget for 2019 is €146 million. The budget for 2020 will be agreed in the context of the Estimates process.
Exchequer funding for homeless services under the Housing Act, 1988
|
Region |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 (to date) |
|
Dublin |
€68,627,075 |
€83,616,643 |
€106,267,187 |
€78,551,245 |
|
Mid-East |
€2,746,651 |
€3,092,923 |
€3,738,000 |
€1,227,500 |
|
Midland |
€1,109,748 |
€1,467,615 |
€2,177,128 |
€805,000 |
|
Mid-West |
€3,500,000 |
€3,906,686 |
€5,044,000 |
€3,014,000 |
|
North-East |
€1,493,336 |
€2,762,845 |
€3,007,520 |
€1,102,500 |
|
North-West |
€411,946 |
€450,000 |
€541,522 |
€320,000 |
|
South-East |
€3,041,840 |
€3,444,510 |
€3,815,000 |
€2,282,500 |
|
South-West |
€5,375,609 |
€6,703,444 |
€9,687,741 |
€3,912,500 |
|
West |
€2,370,295 |
€3,791,334 |
€4,721,895 |
€1,860,000 |
Financial reports from each of the regions, setting out expenditure on homeless services, including emergency accommodation in each region, are published on my Department's website at the following link:
https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/homelessness/other/homelessness-data.
