Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2019
627. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41928/19]
View answer629. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41932/19]
View answer630. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41933/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 627, 629 and 630 together.
Rebuilding Ireland, the Government’s Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness, is designed to increase the delivery of housing across all tenures to help individuals and families meet their housing needs and address homelessness. The plan focuses on increasing the delivery of social housing, with a target of delivering 50,000 social housing homes and 87,000 other social housing supports by 2021. In 2018, 8,000 new social homes were delivered nationally and this year, a further 10,000 new social homes will be delivered. The Plan also recognises the role of other State Agencies, including the Department of Health and HSE, in delivering services to those experiencing homelessness. In September 2017, I established the Homelessness Inter-Agency Group to ensure the effective coordination of the State’s response to addressing homelessness.
In addition to increasing the supply of housing, we are also committed to ensuring that appropriate emergency accommodation is in place for individuals and families. Budget 2020 provides an allocation of €166m for the delivery of homeless services next year, an increase of €20m on the 2019 allocation. Homeless services are administered on a regional basis and the decisions on the organisation of services, including the provision of emergency accommodation, is a matter for the Management Group of each region.
To minimise the use of hotels and B&Bs for families experiencing homelessness, the Government is supporting local authorities to develop family hubs, through the provision of capital and operational funding. To date, 28 family hubs have been rolled out nationally. Households in emergency accommodation are supported by the local authorities and their service delivery partners to identify and secure an independent tenancy.
In September 2018, the Government published the National Implementation Plan for Housing First. Housing First provides homes for rough sleepers and long-term users of emergency accommodation who have complex health needs. Housing first tenants are provided with the necessary housing and health supports to ensure that they can sustain their tenancy. Local authorities are responsible for providing the housing supports and the HSE is responsible for providing the health supports. The Plan includes a target of 663 tenancies to be delivered by 2021.
