Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 69 together.

Action to address homelessness is a matter for the housing authorities and the HSE, which have statutory responsibility for providing accommodation and health care services for homeless persons. I have put in place a comprehensive range of measures to underpin the role of housing authorities and approved housing bodies towards achieving the ambitious objective of eliminating long-term homelessness and the need to sleep rough, including an enhanced programme for procurement of accommodation. A new tenancy support system to help such persons live independently has also been put in place.

I recently approved €60 million for the purchase of accommodation to meet the needs of persons with specific categories of housing need, including persons moving out of temporary homeless accommodation. Over 100 of these units will provide long-term accommodation for such persons, and approved housing bodies have been asked to develop proposals for the further delivery of leased units in addition to accommodation approved under this initiative. My Department is also working closely with the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency and the Dublin local authorities, where the homelessness issue is most pronounced, to ensure that the drive to eliminate long-term homelessness is advanced as rapidly as possible. Taken together, these measures have the potential to make significant further progress towards reaching the target in the current year. The pace of progress is also dependent on the response of market interests, including property owners and financial institutions.

The number of homeless households that were assessed as eligible and in need of social housing support throughout the State, according to the 2008 housing needs assessment, is 1,394. A breakdown of this figure by household on a local authority basis is available on my Department's website at www.environ.ie. A more comprehensive survey, in March 2008, reported a total of 1,436 homeless households in Dublin. Some 708 households were recorded as residing in long-term and transitional accommodation, but it would be incorrect to regard all of these as homeless. This survey method was also used for the first time in Cork, Galway and Limerick in 2008. The results indicated a total of 767 homeless households in these centres. That figure also includes households in long-term and transitional accommodation, some of whom should not properly be regarded as homeless.

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