Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

The commitment in the programme for Government to review and update the existing homelessness strategy is timely as Departments and agencies, together with community and voluntary service providers, are midway through the implementation of The Way Home - A Strategy to Address Adult Homelessness 2008-2013. From my initial discussions with representatives of the sector, the appropriate strategies are largely under way, including measures to end involuntary rough sleeping and improve delivery of mainstream housing to enable those residing in emergency homeless accommodation to move to independent living. However, key targets intended to be met by the end of 2010 have not been achieved and the current strategy review will take account of demands on existing housing, assess how best to provide additional services and ensure more effective prevention strategies. The Government will work with the sector to target aggressively the root causes of homelessness. As part of the updated strategy, a "housing first" approach to accommodating homeless people will be introduced. In this way, we will be able to offer homeless people suitable long-term housing in the first instance and radically reduce the use of hostel accommodation and the associated costs for the Exchequer.

Following consultation within the sector, and in parallel with the Government's expenditure review, I intend to complete the homelessness strategy review and introduce an updated strategy this autumn, including clear performance targets and associated timelines.

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