Mr. Cathal Morgan:

For clarity, the allocations directive is a ministerial directive which states that 50% of all social housing is to be allocated not just to the homeless but also to other vulnerable categories of households for Dublin region only. There are different percentages for other parts where the issue is acute. For example, last year we achieved 1,059 tenancies; in other words 1,059 households moved out of homeless services. This was a record achievement for homeless and housing services in that year. A total of 87% of that 1,059 came from local authorities and approved housing bodies. That shows the housing authorities are literally pulling out the stops to see whether they can assist in the tumultuous challenge we face day to day in terms of households staying in homeless services. It is the view and the concern of the local authorities that while that directive certainly gave us the uplift that we needed because we are in a crisis, maybe we are at that tipping point where, perhaps, there is a concern that it is inducing. I stress that the households that come to the local authorities for assistance are all low-income households. We are not talking about millionaires coming in the door who can provide for themselves but very vulnerable households who need help. There is a balance to be struck. We are of the view that, perhaps, we are at a tipping point given the constraints in terms of the availability of property and that we may have to tell people we cannot respond to them immediately and that they will have to consider other alternatives while we wait for housing supply to kick in. That concern has been raised. We know that the Housing Agency is carrying out a review of the directive. All the stakeholders will be asked what they think of the directive and it will be up to the Government or the Minister or the Department to decide where to go from there. That is the view of the local authorities.

In regard to the concern around drug-free beds within the region and the issue of vulnerable persons who have very complex addiction needs, that is always an issue for us. I will say two things about that. Last year in Dublin alone, the local authorities and the homeless services provided accommodation to 5,480 adults. That number does not include children. That is a phenomenal number of people. Some 38% of that cohort had never been in homeless services previously. For example, on 31 December, like a census of population night, 2,279 adults, not including children, were in homeless services. We have increased our emergency capacity by about 70% since 2014. That shows two things: we are at full occupancy and at full capacity. That is going to cause constraints around our ability to be able to match the right bed in the right service with the person to meet their needs. We do our best to do that. I hope the committee appreciates that we try to work on that day to day. We have in the region of upwards of 300 beds that we see as being drug and alcohol free.

The staff in homeless services who work under extreme conditions perform a most diligent and professional job to the very best of their ability. That includes local authority placement staff who are under extraordinary stress day to day. That is understandable because they are dealing with and working with very vulnerable households. Likewise our colleagues in State-funded NGO services are in the same position.

With regard to the qualification and the standards required to work in the sector, we have a competency based framework under our HR framework, where staff do have to have a basic level of commendation. Most staff are trained in the area. With Dublin City University's School of Mental Health Nursing and the Centre for Housing Research we set up a unique training programme which is the first of its kind. It has been in place for the past two to three years and the majority of our staff, as key workers, have to go through a training programme to be able to work with difficult circumstances. It is a condition of service level agreements that where one has anti-social behaviour it is the responsibility of the services to deal with the anti-social behaviour and to have good neighbourhood policies in place. If the behaviour is affecting the neighbourhood we can do two things; either the person is transferred to an alternative facility to try to deal with the immediate issue or there is some level of sanction involved. However, our sanctions can only go so far because fundamentally the situations usually involve people who are quite vulnerable because they are in a treatment programme and they may be experiencing a level of chaos on a particular day. This is something we try to work with and ameliorate on a day to day basis.