Dr. Walter Stanley:

As Ms Feeney said, there was a commitment from the Department and indeed the Minister at the time that young people leaving care would not be affected by those cuts in the social welfare rate. However, there was no capacity within the system to identify groups that were harder to identify. There was a group coming out of care who could be easily identified because they had a care plan. Therefore, they could get an increased rate. If there was a way to identify young people who were homeless or were going to be in homelessness, the logic was that they would have done the same thing for them.

These young people are harder to identify. They fall between the cracks and so they are not getting the increased payment. The truth is that regardless of age, if we want to prevent homelessness, people need time and resources. They need capital. That is how a person stays out of homelessness. If the State is providing less to young people who are competing in what is currently an insane market, then we will see increased homelessness, particularly in the context of vulnerable people.

On the final point about accommodation for care leavers funded via the capital assistance scheme, when that innovation came in, it had the potential to be an absolute game-changer. Young people who go on the housing list are going to be waiting on it for years. CAS-funded accommodation for care leavers provides an opportunity to build up a stock of housing that are permanent homes for young people who are leaving care but that, in our view, should be expanded to young people who are in the more difficult situations to which I refer. The number of people who leave care every year is fairly stationary. It is between 500 to 600 each year. That is far too many, but lots of young people have had very good experiences and perhaps do not need the same level of support. If we can build up a stock of housing for these young people, they will, as they are given support, transition to the next phases of their lives and move on from rental accommodation. They should not be forced to move on but they will naturally do so. Once we build up a stock, we will have the resources to provide accommodation for young people who are in difficult situations and for those leaving care. It will be an absolute game-changer if it is properly resourced, if the accommodation is built and if it is provided to the young people that need it.