Housing First enables people who may have been homeless and who have high levels of complex needs to obtain permanent secure accommodation with the provision of intensive supports to help them maintain their tenancies. The National Implementation Plan for Housing First, published in September, is designed to provide this response, by delivering permanent housing solutions and associated supports for rough sleepers and long-term users of emergency accommodation. The plan contains targets for each local authority, with an overall national target of 663 tenancies to be delivered by 2021. 221 of these are targeted for 2019.
Regional targets were agreed by local authorities based on a review of homelessness data and a national survey of the support needs of homeless individuals conducted with service providers. The survey results, national targets, and regional targets are available in the Housing First National Implementation Plan document.
The Housing First programme has been operating in the Dublin region since 2014, following a successful pilot. A total of 290 tenancies have been created to date in the Dublin region, with 34 of these created in 2014, 33 in 2015, 34 in 2016, 106 in 2017, and 83 in 2018.