Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 June 2023
307. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the proposals he has received from Clare County Council for emergency accommodation in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31893/23]
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 local authorities in addressing homelessness at a local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services rests with individual local authorities.
My Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to local authorities towards the operational costs of homeless accommodation and related services including emergency accommodation under Section 10 of the Housing Act, 1988. Under Exchequer funding arrangements, housing authorities must provide at least 10% of the cost of services from their own resources. Furthermore, local authorities may also incur additional expenditure on homeless related services outside of the Exchequer funding arrangements provided by my Department.
While responsibility for the provision of homeless accommodation and related services rests with individual local authorities, the administration of homeless services is organised on a regional basis with a lead authority in place for each region. Counties Clare and Limerick are included in the Mid West region for the purposes of homeless administration, with Limerick City and County Council as lead authority. A homelessness consultative forum has been established in each of the nine homeless regions in accordance with Chapter 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2009. Decisions on the range of emergency accommodation services and funding required in each region are a matter for individual housing authorities in consultation with the Management Group of the relevant regional joint Homelessness Consultative Forum.
Each region is required to submit an annual expenditure programme to my Department and my Department approves a funding allocation. The annual expenditure programme includes both services that are operational and new service proposals. The latest expenditure programme is for 2023 and contains five emergency service proposals for Clare. There are no new emergency accommodation proposals for Clare to date in 2023 and existing services are published in the Mid West End of Year financial reports for previous years are available on my Department’s website at
www.housing.gov.ie/housing/homelessness/other/homelessness-data.
