Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will receive my written reply but I will give him a verbal answer because it might be more helpful. A significant number of families have been housed or we have found homes for them. There have also been significant numbers of families coming into homelessness. The figure was 87 in the month of January. The challenge is to reduce the numbers coming into homelessness and accelerate the numbers coming out. We have an agreement with the CEOs of the four Dublin local authorities to try to share the responsibility here for transitioning families from hotel rooms into more suitable accommodation. The majority of those will be into social housing, either through rapid build social housing, conventional social housing or social houses that have been purchased or brought back into use from voids.

We will also be very proactively using the homeless housing assistance payment, HAP, which was very successful last year. There were approximately 800 homes found for individuals and families through the latter. Some of the families will be in what we call family transition hubs on a temporary basis. It is emergency accommodation specifically kitted out for families with homework clubs, facilities for children and much more normalised family-style facilities in terms of where people eat that are safe and clean and so on. Respond! opened one in Drumcondra at the start of the year that can cater for 32 families. It is quite a successful model. We want to have that type of approach available for families so they can be looked after on a temporary basis while we find a transition for them into either long-term tenancies or social housing, which is ultimately the answer here.

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