Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2021
337. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of children and young families currently living in temporary or long-term accommodation; and the average waiting time for social housing for families with young children. [11519/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department publishes a detailed monthly report on homelessness, based on data provided by housing authorities. The Report outlines details of individuals utilising State-funded emergency accommodation arrangements that are overseen by housing authorities. Data relating to homeless families and their dependants are presented at a regional level. The Reports are available to access on my Department's website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/80ea8-homelessness-data/
The most recently published report, in respect of January 2021, confirmed that there were 966 families in emergency accommodation during the survey week. This represents a 40% reduction on the position one year previously and is the lowest number of families in emergency accommodation since March 2016. There were 2,326 dependants associated with these families, a decrease of 1,248 (34.9%) on the position in January 2020.
Increasing the supply of housing, particularly new build social and affordable homes, is a key priority of this Government. The Programme for Government commits to increasing the social housing stock by more than 50,000, with an emphasis on new builds. In Budget 2021, we backed this objective with funding of €3.3 billion for the delivery of housing. Subject to the impact of the Covid related restrictions on the construction sector, the available funding will deliver 12,750 new social homes through build, acquisition and leasing. A major focus of this investment is the delivery of new build, with an overall target of 9,500 new homes.
Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority administrative area are provided in the annual statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The most recently published SSHA carried out in 2019, details the number of households on all local authority waiting lists as of June 2019.
Below is the link to the summary report for 2019 which includes breakdowns by each local authority, across a range of categories.
In relation to the question posed by the Deputy regarding the average time spent on the housing list, information of this exact type is not held by my Department. However, details on the length of time spent on the record of qualified households (waiting lists) can be found at tables 2.8 and A1.8 of the report, which is at the following link:https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/29da7-summary-of-social-housing-assessments-2019-key-findings/
It should be noted that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 assessment was delayed and conducted in November. Work is ongoing and the summary report of the 2020 assessment will be published in due course.
