My Department currently publishes data on a monthly basis on the number of homeless persons accommodated in emergency accommodation funded and overseen by housing authorities. These reports are based on data provided by housing authorities, produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS). The reports are collated on a regional basis and are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/80ea8-homelessness-data/ and are also published to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's open data portal data.gov.ie/.
In 2018 it was established that a number of local authorities had been erroneously categorising individuals and families who had been provided with accommodation in local authority owned stock or in properties secured by the local authorities under other arrangements, as being in emergency accommodation. This also included instances where families who were at risk of homelessness had been supported to remain in their own homes via additional rental supports, funded from the homelessness budget.
In order to clarify the full extent of this practice, again in 2018, my Department wrote to each of the nine regional lead local authorities seeking exact data on the classification of houses and apartments as emergency accommodation, including those houses and apartments owned or leased by the local authorities. On the foot of clarifications from local authorities, it became apparent that homelessness data were being reported inconsistently on a national level. Therefore, in 2018 my Department instructed regional lead authorities that the monthly homelessness data should only reflect the number of persons accessing homeless emergency accommodation. There has been no change to this position since regional lead authorities were so instructed.
