Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. In January last, I provided each local authority with the capacity and resources to establish a dedicated housing assistance payment, HAP, place finder service. Among the services and support the place finder service can offer is the capacity to pay deposits and advance rental payments to landlords on behalf of households in emergency homeless accommodation or at immediate risk of entering such accommodation in order to secure housing via the HAP scheme. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection continues to make assistance available to eligible households generally, which are seeking financial support to access rental accommodation. However, in an effort to consolidate homelessness supports within the local government sector, I provided local authorities with the specific capacity to provide this financial support to homeless households.

This targeted intervention for homeless households which are finding it difficult to secure HAP tenancies has been in operation in the Dublin region since 2015 and in Cork city since last year. To qualify for these specific additional supports available to homeless households, a household must have been determined by the relevant local authority to be homeless within the meaning of section 2 of the Housing Act 1988. The operation of local homeless services, including the place finder service, is a matter for each local authority, utilising the supports provided through my Department, as I have just outlined. I understand the service will become operational in the Deputy's local authority area next Monday, no doubt as a result of the efforts he has made in this regard.

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