Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

Significant progress has been made in recent years in tackling homelessness. In the Housing Needs Assessment 2005, local authorities recorded a 46% fall in the numbers of homeless persons nationally, from 5,581 persons in 2002 to 3,031 persons in 2005. A recent survey carried out by the Homeless Agency found that the numbers of rough sleepers in Dublin city had declined from 185 in 2005 to 104 on 20 November 2007.

This progress has been facilitated by close co-operation by all the agencies involved in addressing homelessness, including my Department, the Department of Health and Children, local authorities, the Health Service Executive and the voluntary sector. Their efforts have been underpinned by significant resources, totalling €450 million since 2000, through my Department and the Department of Health and Children. This has delivered a wide range of accommodation and services for homeless persons across the country, from emergency hostels and transitional accommodation programmes to outreach and resettlement services and long-term supported accommodation.

In 2008, over €1.7 billion will be available to my Department for housing, representing an increase of 16% on the 2007 Estimate. This enhanced overall level of resources will allow my Department to continue to provide capital funding to assist voluntary and co-operative housing associations to deliver high quality housing for vulnerable groups, including homeless persons. It will also support the implementation of the increase in grant assistance, which I recently announced, from 95% to 100% of project costs where all tenants are drawn from the local authority social housing list.

Work is at an advanced stage in my Department on the preparation of a revised Government strategy to address adult homelessness, which will include a refocusing on the provision of long-term accommodation through the social and voluntary housing programmes and in the private rented sector, including through the rental accommodation scheme, and ensuring the availability of appropriate outreach and resettlement support as required. The new strategy will provide a comprehensive framework for the achievement of the commitment in the Towards 2016 agreement to eliminate long-term occupancy of emergency homeless accommodation by 2010. I expect the new strategy to be finalised and published in spring 2008.

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