Mr. Brian Geaney:

I thank the Chair and members of the committee for the invitation to attend this joint committee meeting on developments in homelessness provision since the publication of the committee's report in 2021.

Considerable measures have been taken to facilitate families and individuals experiencing homelessness in Cork city. In 2019, Cork City Council took over the management of the homeless persons unit from the Department of Social Protection. From the outset, the strategy was to put in place a centralised, stand-alone office for the service, thereby creating an easily accessible space in a city centre location that would provide for confidentiality and privacy for service users. It was renamed the accommodation placement service, APS, and it provides emergency accommodation, advice and advocacy to homeless individuals and families. Specialist staff provide a streamlined, holistic homeless service, which includes a host of wraparound services for the city and which places a significant focus on prevention. Continual engagement and work with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the NGO sector and critical Government agencies by way of weekly, fortnightly and monthly meetings, such as the homeless action team, the local homeless forum, regional consultative forum, ensure core services are delivered to the most vulnerable individuals. The homeless office, in conjunction with local stakeholders through the regional consultative forum, is currently reviewing and drafting the regional homeless action plan, which will be finalised in quarter 2 of this year. This plan will be evidence-based, creating a robust operational framework aimed at meeting current needs and future requirements. Cork City Council operates a trauma-informed approach to service delivery with a focus on harm reduction and a recovery orientation. It is closely aligned with the HSE Cork-Kerry social inclusion team together with the key homeless service providers in the city. Staff are continually supported in their roles and the promotion of staff well-being, as well as the enhancement of skill sets, is facilitated.

On housing delivery, Cork City Council, with the continued support of Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and in partnership with the approved housing body, AHB, sector, has focused significant effort and resources to substantially increase the level of social housing supply across the city in recent years utilising key initiatives such as the competitive dialogue procurement processes to create a robust pipeline of new housing units. This uplift and sustained increase in supply provides significant opportunities to tackle the wider homeless challenge. Between 2016 and 2022, Cork City Council delivered 3,145 new social homes across Cork city and the city council is on track to exceed the 2022 to 2026 target of just under 4,000 homes. As part of this housing action plan, key programmes such as "repair and lease" are being utilised to good effect, thereby helping deliver high quality one and two-bedroom units in the city centre for those exiting or being prevented from entering homelessness. Twelve units have been delivered under this programme to date, with an expected delivery of 25 in 2024.

While 23% of all housing allocations in Cork city went to homeless families and individuals in 2023, which is a significant proportion, Cork City Council is acutely aware of the need to limit the use of emergency accommodation. It should be used primarily for emergencies and be short-term in nature. While 145 families were placed in emergency accommodation in 2023, by the end of January 2024, 55 families were accommodated in an emergency accommodation setting in the city. This proves that the council's focus on preventions and exits to longer-term and more suitable accommodation is crucial to limiting this reliance. Over the past six years, there has been a reduction of 44% in families experiencing homelessness in Cork city. While there are 55 families in emergency accommodation, a total 184 households exited emergency accommodation in 2023. The projected target for quarter 1 of 2024 of households exiting emergency accommodation is 80, which is up from 25 compared with the same quarter last year. The council will continue to focus its efforts to reduce homeless family numbers throughout 2024. Cork City Council has prevented a total of 264 households from entering homelessness in 2023.

This represents a 156% increase in preventions on the previous year. This was achieved due to homelessness preventions via increased housing allocations and the roll-out of tenantsin situ scheme together with homeless HAP. A total of 129 tenantin situ acquisitions have been secured since the programme commenced in April 2023 and this has been of significant assistance in preventing homelessness across the city. The APS has received a total of 158 compliant notices of termination in 2023 with a further 42 received to date in 2024, which account for notices of terminations to the end of the year.

While the number of single individuals in Cork has increased year on year since 2020, this number has stabilised in the past 12 months. The number of single individuals in homeless services at the end of 2023 was 399. Single individuals often face additional challenges when securing an exit from homelessness given the limited supply of one-bedroom properties, the availability of rental properties and in some cases the complexities involved and the levels of support required to effectively sustain tenancies. The expansion and further development of the Housing First programme has been of significant assistance in tackling rough sleeper numbers in the city and other existing support settings, such as our youth homeless facilities in Cork Foyer, Bishopsgrove and Wellsprings provided an invaluable service to these vulnerable cohorts.