Mr. Wayne Stanley:

We thank committee for the invitation today. I am accompanied by Mr. Jonathan Shinnors, to my left, and online by Mr. Dermot Kavanagh. A couple of people have reflected on the fact that we were here in February 2022 to give an update. We have to recognise that we have had a 28% increase in homelessness in the intervening period. As Ms Hayes has outlined, that is really the consequence of the housing crisis. The needs of people in acute housing need are not being met by our housing system. That is what needs to be improved and fixed. We also have to recognise the trauma people experience when they cross the threshold of a homeless service. That is regardless of the professional quality of the services provided by the Simon Communities across Ireland. It is still a trauma. The longer people have to spend in homelessness, the more acute the consequences of that homelessness are for them. That is what we will talk about today. I join with Ms Hayes in saying that prevention is absolutely key, and will add that we need to continue innovating in that space. The tenant in situscheme is a particularly welcome innovation. We will see results from it being rolled out. We are seeing results already, but there needs to be sustained momentum on it. Over time, we have proposed a number of different innovations, including the Simon Homeless Prevention Bill, which received cross-party support. An innovation of Cork Simon has been rehab to home, which supports people to move directly from rehab into homes, as opposed to going back to homeless services where people can relapse. Mid-West Simon is working with local authorities to develop a shared living arrangement to make the most of the accommodation we have. Where people are compatible, shared living arrangements can provide homes quickly. The homeless prevention service in Galway Simon is predicated on traditional homeless services, but also has an element of mentoring. We are working with people to find solutions and to support them working their way through homelessness and even preventing them from entering homelessness in the first instance. In 2022, that service had a 94% success rate for people who engaged early with it. Cork Simon is also developing a pilot diversion project. A number of local authorities already engage in these, where they support people to find alternative accommodation with family or friends. They will look at what other options they have. Cork Simon wants to build on that to make sure that, where supports are needed, they can be put in place to make it more sustainable.

The most recent homeless figures showed an increase in family homelessness, and we do not want to put one month as a barometer or a defining notion. However, it was concerning that the increase in family homelessness was one of the highest we have seen since 2018. The tenant in situscheme is an appropriate response. Hopefully we will see the impact of that in coming months, and we will not see that continue to increase. It was a red flag when we saw it coming up. Certainly, the experience of the Simon Communities is of more families contacting them with a notice to quit. To be clear, our first action is to refer them to the local authority but there are grave concerns around that.

As Mr. McCafferty and Ms Hayes have already covered a lot about the private rental market, I will not go too far into that other than to say that we are seeing a reduction in the total number of HAP properties in the country. One aspect of it is the push to see an increase in HAP rates. That is not necessarily to suppose that if we increase HAP rates, we can chase rents and build up a bigger private rental stock of social housing through HAP. It is important to make sure that people are not falling into arrears because the HAP rates are so far away from market rents. That is something, which has to be constantly kept under review.

We also want to talk about the provision and quality of private emergency accommodation. Again, Ms Hayes has outlined a number of areas and there is ongoing work on this in the national homeless action committee. One thing we are seeing in the context of the crisis is pressure coming on services to provide more bed spaces in existing services. We reflect on where we came from in Covid, which we acknowledge was a particular time. The space provided, and the reduction of the number of people in services created better spaces for people. It also provided a better opportunity to move on from homelessness because they have the capacity. In mid-west in particular we have seen that. People are gaining employment even though they are in emergency accommodation, because they have own-room accommodation. Employment is also a factor we are seeing increase generally. People presenting to homelessness are presenting in employment. That has been seen in Mid-West Simon, Cork Simon and in the case of Galway Simon, in youth services in particular. We are seeing young people able to gain employment even though they are in emergency or supported accommodation. The notable factor there is that employment is no longer a route out of homelessness. Some years ago it would have been.

This is an ongoing discussion across the NGO sector, and we support those calls around section 39 and section 10 funding for homeless services. We are acutely aware in Simon Communities across the country and in other NGOs that we have some degree of a brain drain as the employment market draws professional staff out of our services into the HSE and Tusla. They can do the same work, but with a significant increase in pay. That is because pay parity, which existed prior to 2008 has not been restored for front-line workers in NGOs. We think that really needs to be looked at, first, in recognition of the pressure on services and staff, and second, in recognition of the professionalism and skill needed to support people living through the crisis of homelessness. The cost-of-living crisis, which is affecting everyone is also affecting front-line workers.

To conclude, what I have covered is a whistle-stop tour of some of the issues. We are obviously happy to take questions, and my colleagues have front-line experience to bring the reality home to the committee.