Frances Fitzgerald
Ceist:695 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the resources available to the homeless in the Dublin area. [1575/99]
Written Answers. - Homeless People.
Frances Fitzgerald
Ceist:696 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of homeless in the Dublin area. [1576/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 695 and 696 together.
I refer to the reply to Questions Nos. 265 to 269, inclusive, of 1 December 1998.
In 1998, my Department recouped £19.2 million to the four Dublin local authorities in respect of their exenditure on accommodation for homeless people and emergency accommodation for asylum seekers. The provision in 1999 for these recoupments is £20 million.
The provision in 1999 for the voluntary housing capital assistance scheme which funds the provision by voluntary bodies of accommodation for people in need, including the homeless, has been increased by 10 per cent to £16.486 million. An assessment of the numbers of homeless people in their areas will be carried out by each local authority in March 1999 on the basis set out in my reply to Questions Nos. 265 to 269 on 1 December 1998. The last such assessment was in respect of the position at 29 March 1996 and details of that assessment, on a local authority basis, are contained in Part XIII of the Department's Housing Statistics Bulletin for 1996, copies of which are in the Oireachtas Library.