Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 May 2025
549. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total number of hotel / hostel beds currently in use as emergency homeless accommodation, by each local authority in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25473/25]
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 homeless services rests with individual housing authorities.
My Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards the operational costs of homeless accommodation and related services 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, housing 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 housing authorities, the administration of homeless services is organised on a regional basis with a lead authority in place for each region. A homelessness consultative forum has been established in each region in accordance with Chapter 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2009. Decisions on the type and range of emergency accommodation services, the number of emergency accommodation beds, 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. The details sought by the Deputy are a matter for individual housing authorities.
Financial reports from each of the regional fora, setting out total expenditure on homeless services including emergency accommodation facilities in each region are published on my Department’s website at the following link; www.housing.gov.ie/housing/homelessness/other/homelessness-data.
My Department currently gathers and 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 monthly homelessness report includes details of individuals, families and the dependants of these families who accessed emergency accommodation during the relevant count week of the month in question but does not include numbers of beds in use in emergency accommodation. The most recently published data is in respect of March 2025. The reports are collated on a regional basis and are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/#homelessness-data and are also published to the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform's open data portal https://data.gov.ie/.
