John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, could not be present but I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for raising the issue. I saw the coverage of the reports. The Deputy is right to raise those points and they need to be addressed. The developmental issues in children that have been highlighted need to be addressed and are not acceptable.

Supporting individuals and families experiencing homelessness is a priority for the Government. Over the course of Rebuilding Ireland, the Government is committed to meeting the housing needs of more than 138,000 households, with 50,000 homes to be delivered through build, acquisition and lease. The implementation of the plan is well under way and is making progress. We can see this reflected in social housing waiting lists, which have reduced by 26% nationally between 2016 and 2019.

The Government is committed to delivering homes for all of the families currently experiencing homelessness. However, until a home is provided, it is also critical that we provide the appropriate accommodation and supports to households experiencing homelessness. To minimise the use of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation for emergency accommodation, the Government has provided local authorities with capital funding to develop family hubs. There are currently 30 family hubs in operation nationally, with a total capacity to cater for almost 690 families. Additional hubs will be delivered in the coming months.

Hubs provide more security and stability for homeless families than is possible in hotel accommodation. Families in hubs are supported by the local authorities and their contracted non-governmental organisation service delivery partners to identify and secure appropriate long-term accommodation. The supports available in family hubs assist families to move from emergency accommodation to a home within a shorter timeframe. The annual report released this morning by Respond, for instance, confirms that, on average, families move out of their hubs within six months, with a range of housing responses being provided. These include local authority owned properties, approved housing body properties and housing assistance payment, HAP, supported tenancies in the private rented sector. The objective is to secure a home for a family within a six-month period, although obviously we work to try to ensure that a home is provided within the shortest period possible.

In 2018, 5,135 individual adults and their associated dependants exited homelessness into homes, an increase of 8% on the 2017 figure. In the first half of this year, 2,825 further individual adults and their associated dependants exited homelessness, up 21% on the comparable period in 2018. Next year, it is expected that we will see in excess of 5,500 adults and their associated dependants moving out of homelessness.

The HAP placefinder service plays a vital role in preventing families from entering homelessness in the first place and in housing those families who find themselves in emergency accommodation. Under the placefinder service, all local authorities are now being provided with the options to pay deposits and advance rental payments for any households in emergency homeless accommodation in order to secure accommodation via the housing assistance payment scheme. Local authorities may, dependent on local demand, offer households in emergency accommodation the option to source accommodation themselves or with the assistance of placefinder officers. These officers are being funded by the Department. Some 23 local authorities have such officers in place. More than 9,300 households have been supported by the homeless HAP scheme nationally up to the end of quarter 3 of this year.

Supporting a household to exit from homelessness often requires more than a house; sometimes it requires a broader suite of social and welfare supports. In that context, it is vital that the range of State bodies act in a co-ordinated fashion and a high level inter-agency group, including representatives from key Departments, local authorities, Tusla and the HSE, is in place to support this critical co-ordination objective.

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