Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 May 2012
30 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will commit to a target of providing 1,600 housing units for homeless persons this year and next year to help end long-term homelessness by the end of 2013; and his plans to achieve this target. [22174/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraWhile the target set in the National Homeless Strategy 2008-2013, A Way Home, of ending long term homelessness was not met, progress in achieving this challenging ambition is a principal objective of national housing policy. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with the housing authorities. In this context a more devolved allocation-based system for the provision of accommodation-related funding to housing authorities is being put in place and will result in increased decision making at local level, in lieu of the existing individual project based arrangements. It strives to improve overall efficiency and value for money and will provide a more planned approach to the delivery locally and regionally of homeless services. The system has been put in place in the Dublin region since 1 January 2012 and it is to be extended nationally to the other regions by the end of 2012.
There is no single solution to increasing the level of social housing supply for the homeless, and maximising delivery will require flexible and diverse approaches. The initial emphasis in the Dublin region, where there is a greater concentration of those accessing homelessness services, will be on moving away from the current over reliance on emergency accommodation provision to a more permanent accommodation solution to be achieved through a number of measures including:
directly linking the provision of funding with specific targets and outcomes;
making better use of the existing available accommodation units in the local authorities and in the voluntary sector;
additional social housing provision through acquisitions and remedial works/upgrading of vacant local authority housing stock and a leasing programme;
ongoing engagement with NAMA to secure properties;
targeted use of the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS);
an enhanced role for the private rental sector; and
better co-ordination with the voluntary and cooperative housing sector.
The Programme for Government committed to reviewing the national homeless strategy and to implementing a housing led approach to homelessness. The draft of the review is being considered by my Department and it is intended shortly to present it to the Cross Departmental Team on Homelessness and the Homeless Consultative Committee for consultation. The review will take account of demands on existing housing and will assess how best to continue providing services in a manner consistent with the elimination of existing homelessness and to ensure more effective prevention strategies. On its conclusion, I will be indicating what I expect from housing authorities and other stakeholders in accelerating progress towards realising the ambition of eliminating involuntary long-term homelessness.
