Mr. Bob Jordan:

Deputy Sean Fleming raised a very important issue because the funding for homelessness is largely focused on the problem that has happened already. There is very little funding available to stop it happening in the first place. Threshold, as a housing charity, provides advice and advocacy that saves people from losing their accommodation. One of the things we would like this committee to support on behalf of the four organisations is a change in legislation around the funding mechanism for homelessness. Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 is largely out of date but is so focused on providing funding for emergency services through State bodies that organisations such as ours get nothing from that well, and it is very important.

Most people would say local authorities are committed to tenants and try to do the best for them. Local authorities have been asked to run schemes in the private market, such as the rental accommodation scheme. The Department of Social Protection runs the rent supplement scheme. There is less commitment around keeping people in their homes in those schemes. We have seen rent supplement slashed in the last couple of years without any consideration of the consequences. Tenants were asked to break the law and do the impossible. They were asked to break legal agreements with landlords. Our organisation is trying to get tenants back on the housing ladder. Landlords have turned away from rent supplement in droves because not only have the payments been cut, the rules they are supposed to adhere to are being broken by the State itself. If there is a commitment to a new scheme, such as the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme, there must be follow-through to protect people in those homes when we put them into the private sector.