Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

During the week of 22 to 28 May there were 1,312 homeless families, including an astonishing 2,777 children, in homeless accommodation around the country. They are really shameful figures. Some 852 of these families were single parent families and there were almost 1,100 families with 2,266 children in Dublin alone. Seven weeks ago, on 18 May, I raised a Topical Issue about the Government’s commitment to end the placing of families in hotels and guesthouses by 1 July and the failure of the then Minister to ensure good communication and give notice to the families concerned. On 23 May I received a reply to my questions from the deputy chief executive of Dublin City Council, Mr. Kenny, on the breakdown of homeless families. He told me that, of the 1,454 accommodation places to be made available for homeless families in hotel rooms by 1 July, 625 or almost half would be in family hubs, which essentially are homeless hostels for families. He also stated hubs were regarded as emergency accommodation. Does this mean that they will be classified as supported temporary accommodation, STA, or private emergency accommodation, PEA, within the Minister's homeless statistics?

We have been told that there are nine of these hubs in Dublin city - at High Park, Drumcondra; Ashling House, Clontarf; Mater Dei, Clonliffe Road; Greencastle Parade, Coolock; Kinsealy Lane in the area of Fingal County Council; the famous Lynam's, O'Connell Street, about which we heard on the floor of the House a few weeks ago; Clonard Road, Crumlin; Sarsfield Road, Ballyfermot; and Millmount, Dundrum. In all, they provide 254 places for families. We were then told that Dublin County Council had obtained five-year leases on several hotel properties in Dublin for the same purpose.

I have been in contact with some impressive civic society groups that are working for people living in homeless accommodation such as the North Dublin Bay Housing Crisis Committee led by Ms Aisling Hedderman and Ms Aisling Kenny. They put a number of key questions, to which I have not received adequate or even basic replies. First and foremost, for how long will families be kept in these homeless hubs? What guarantee can the Minister of State give that they will not be there for much longer than six months? Dublin City Council will not give a guarantee that it will be for a six-month period. As the Minister of State knows, international best practice is that six months is the longest period for which people should be kept in certain accommodation. What happens if a family refuse a place in a hub or if they are very unhappy going into HAP-type accommodation? What is the cost of the family hubs to the State? I understand there are to be up to 18 hubs to house approximately 600 families at an estimated cost of €25 million. Will that be the cost per year? The obvious question constituents will ask is: how many houses could be build for that amount of money if we were to start an emergency local authority housing programme, for which I have asked many times in the House? Of what will the accommodation consist? Will it just be one big room or will there be a number of rooms per family, depending on the ages and gender of the children? There are reports of adults sleeping in bunk beds. How will the rosters to access cooking and laundry facilities be managed? These are very basic questions and when one starts to ask them, one wonders how the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, got this chaotic idea off the ground in the first place.

It has been reported that rents in the hubs will be between €37 and €45 per week and that there will be extra charges on top of these amounts for laundry facilities, etc. How were these figures reached and why? Some of the families in question might be saving towards HAP scheme deposits. What level of local access will there be to and what safety measures will be in place in the hubs, given that we are talking about thousands of children?

I tried to raise an issue with the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Katherine Zappone, but my question was not reached. It was related to the provision of support these vulnerable families would need, including mental health, addiction and education services and training. There are a lot of questions to be answered and there is great unhappiness among my constituents. It is a huge problem in Dublin and many other areas around the country.

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