Ms Niamh Randall:

With regard to housing, I would just like to make it very clear that Housing First does not preclude access to residential drug treatment. The crucial thing here is choice. Housing First has no preconditions and does not require anyone to access drug treatment. If an individual chooses to do so, however, this can then be made part of the overall picture and individuals can move seamlessly from one part of the service to another. That should work.

I want to pick up on Dr. O'Reilly's comment about addressing the issues at the very top of the stream and why people are homeless. It is very clear that the reasons people experience homelessness, problematic drug and alcohol use and housing insecurity come down to poverty and inequality, lack of housing affordability, poor supply, and the lack of tenancy security and income adequacy. The committee's advocacy on these issues could really help us. If tackled, these are the issues that could prevent these problems happening in the first place. Very strong advocacy at a policy level is really important when it comes to preventing these issues.

Other key messages include the importance of requiring, ensuring and supporting inter-sectoral, cross-departmental work. This needs to be done in a co-ordinated way. Another is the importance of bringing services to where people themselves are and ensuring that those services are flexible, appropriate, affordable and adaptable. We need to be able to adapt services to meet people's needs. As Deputy O'Connell commented, we need to provide tailored responses because it is not the case that one size fits all. These are are central messages.

As Ms Darcy mentioned, it is really important that NGOs and organisations like Safetynet and the Simon Communities are seen as equal partners. We are very happy to play our role. We all want the same thing: to prevent homelessness and prevent problematic drug and alcohol use and the range of health issues that come with it. We are very happy to support the idea of working together in a stronger, more collaborative way. It is very important that we are seen as equal partners in this process.