Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegations from Threshold, the Simon Communities of Ireland and the DRHe for their attendance and time. More importantly, I thank them for their strong advocacy work. Not a day goes by without me hearing on the national airwaves or reading in the media about the advocacy work done by the organisations. The organisations do very many good things but advocacy is one of their strongest strengths from our point of view in Leinster House, which tends to be a bubble and convince itself that it always does the right thing, and tends to seek to convince itself that it is on track to deliver and address the problems but clearly has failed abysmally on many fronts.

We, as a committee, work collectively and collaboratively but tease out issues. I genuinely mean that the organisations present are the strongest advocates on this issue, for which I thank them. Their work is valuable and they fill a space does not happen in many other jurisdictions or democracies. The organisations have stepped up to the plate with confidence and skills. The organisations are partners with Government, which is great. We need to recognise that the work done by the organisations is of great importance and I recognise that work.

I wish to point out the following for the benefit of anyone who is not in the bubble of Leinster House. The remit of the DRHE covers Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and South Dublin County Council. The witnesses might outline how their organisations are resourced and explain the synergies between local authorities.

Recently, a person contacted my office to say they had wanted to sign up to receive emergency HAP as opposed to ordinary HAP but were told by someone in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to get on a bus and into Dublin City Council. The person's request was not received well in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council but perhaps that was a one-off experience. While we might have a centralised synergy and shared service, it is important that people understand that their local authority is their local authority, and local authorities have statutory responsibilities and functions and, therefore, it is important that we meet them locally with services where we can.

Ms Hayes mentioned that there is no-one over 70 years on the DRHE's housing list. A woman in Ranelagh contacted me, then I contacted the DRHE's housing department and within 24 hours a person called to see the woman. She now happily resides in a lovely studio or bungalow unit in Ranelagh and what a place. It is the first in time in her life that this 78-year-old woman that she ever had a place that she could call her home. She contacted me and asked me to call to see her. She told me she was so proud of the scheme and the officials in the Dublin City Council. She also told me that the first time she had to share bedsit accommodation with eight or nine other women who were all aged in the 70s and all were threatened with eviction to get out of what was deplorable accommodation. One has to ask how that had not come to anyone's attention. However, this is a good news story.

That woman is now in a house. It was all turned around, Garda checks and everything, in 14 days I think. I commend the DRHE on this and will Ms Hayes share how she deals with that circumstance? I think it is great.

We cannot but face to up to the reality that mental health and addiction is a huge part of the issue of homelessness. I am not quite convinced as I walk the streets of Dublin every day and meet people who tell me they are homeless.They are tapping into services but really see no future and are being pushed on and shunned by society, generally, and the communities they live in. They do not have the same supports. When teases down and talk to some of them they have come from State institutions. They were reared in institutions of the State and were let down on many fronts over many years. Somehow there is not quite the empathy and understanding of where they have come from and there is a real niche there. I do not have the answer but it clearly on our streets. Addiction and mental health is a huge issue in the bigger picture of homelessness and I do not know how that is being addressed.

Finally, relating to the DRHE, there is the issue of the tenant in situscheme. We know from figures released by Dublin City Council that 18 properties were submitted for final offers and have gone sale agreed. I read a report that states there are more than 200 properties in which tenants are renting, according to the latest figures. This is really promising and we know the Government has only committed to 1,500 of these units as part of the suite of approaches they want to address in terms of housing. It is an amazing scheme and clearly we need more money and more resources so Ms Hayes might touch on that.

Threshold said that 50% of the notices of terminations outside of property sale were found to be invalid. I thought that was a really important point and can Ms O'Reilly expand on that?

My final question is for all of the witnesses. There is a great fanfare about the youth hopelessness strategy. It had 27 distinct actions. I printed off a copy of it before I came to the meeting. It talks about preventing young people from entering homelessness, improving the experience of young people in emergency accommodation and assisting young people to exit homelessness. It may be planned, but not a lot has happened. There is a summary of the actions and there are 27 actions planned so will the Simon Communities of Ireland comment on that?