The results of the assessment of homelessness undertaken by local authorities in March 2002, as part of the overall assessment of housing needs, are included in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's 2002 Annual Housing Statistics Bulletin, which was published recently. The time lag between carrying out the assessment and publishing the results was due to the need to compile the results and verify their accuracy. In addition, concerns were raised about the validity of the figures for the Dublin area which needed to be further examined before the overall results could be published.
In some instances, there are differences between the number of homeless people recorded in the assessment and the level of homelessness indicated in the local homeless action plans. The assessment is an indication of the level of homelessness on a specific date while many action plans refer to the number of people who presented as homelessness over a period of time such as a year in order to get an overview of the flows into homelessness over a period of time.
The need to improve data on homelessness is recognised. In Dublin, the Homeless Agency, with the support of the Department, is currently piloting the LINK system with a number of service providers, including the voluntary sector. This system tracks each individual person presenting as homeless to any of these services and this will allow a profile of people using homeless services, and their needs, to be built up. It is intended that the system will be extended to all homeless services in the Dublin area. Similar improvements in data collection and analysis on homelessness are being considered in other local authority areas where there are a significant number of homeless persons. The issue of improved data collection generally is also being addressed as part of the development of an integrated IT package for housing for all local authorities.
Substantial progress has been made in addressing the needs of people sleeping rough. In Dublin, additional outreach teams have been established to make contact with people sleeping rough and assist them into accommodation. Dublin City Council has a nightly bus service which takes people from the streets to available accommodation. A hostel for young drug users opened in late 2001 and a wet shelter for street drinkers opened in late 2002. A long-term supported housing project for street drinkers is due to open in Dublin later this year. In addition, a wet hostel has also opened in Limerick City.
