Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 September 2020
84. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated full cost of emergency accommodation in 2019; and the projected cost for 2020 and 2021 by local authority and type of emergency accommodation, that is, hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels and family hubs. [25701/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the statutory role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level.
My Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards these costs. Under the funding arrangements, housing authorities must provide at least 10% of the cost of services from their own resources. Housing authorities may also incur additional expenditure on homeless related services outside of these funding arrangements with my Department. Therefore, the exact amounts spent by housing authorities on homeless services, as well as the types of accommodation are a matter for the individual housing authorities.
Exchequer funding for homeless services is provided through my Department to housing authorities on a regional basis. The table below sets out the funding recouped to housing authorities on a regional basis for 2019. The total initial budget allocation for 2020 is €166 million. The budget for 2021 will be agreed in the context of the Estimates process.
|
Region |
Exchequer Funding Provided 2019 |
|
Dublin |
€120.7m |
|
Mid-East |
€ 5.53m |
|
Midland |
€ 2.81m |
|
Mid-West |
€ 7.56m |
|
North-East |
€ 3.68m |
|
North-West |
€ 0.67m |
|
South-East |
€ 4.55m |
|
South-West |
€ 12.05m |
|
West |
€ 7.45m |
Financial reports from each of the regions, setting out expenditure on homeless services, including emergency accommodation and local authority in each region, are published on my Department's website at the following link: https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/homelessness/other/homelessness-data .
