Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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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.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I will try to answer as many of the Deputy's questions as possible. If some questions are not touched on, I will certainly endeavour to obtain further answers afterwards.

One of the key commitments in Rebuilding Ireland is to only use commercial hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families in exceptional circumstances. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is absolutely committed to achieving this. Hotels are not a suitable or secure form of accommodation for families and especially for young children, as the Deputy pointed out.

In terms of overall progress, since Rebuilding Ireland was published last July, it is worth noting that over 830 families have exited hotels and B&Bs and that over 400 families have been prevented from entering hotels in the period up to the end of May of this year. However, despite this, at the end of May, there were still 647 families in commercial hotels and B&B-type accommodation. While it should be acknowledged that this is a considerable reduction on the 871 such families recorded at the end of March, this number of families in hotels and B&Bs needs to reduce and reduce fast.

With regard to the 647 families, the Dublin authorities have confirmed to me that all of the remaining families have been personally contacted and have been given written indications of the accommodation solution envisaged to allow them exit their current commercial hotel or B&B arrangement. Roughly one third of these families will move to permanent social housing in the coming weeks in accordance with their place on the housing list. One third will move into private rented tenancies with the assistance of social housing supports, primarily via the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme while the remaining families will be relocated into newly developed family-focused temporary accommodation facilities or "family hubs".

The Dublin authorities have been working on the delivery of 15 family-focused facilities at a total estimated cost of €25 million, all of which will be in place in the coming weeks. These 15 facilities will provide supported temporary accommodation for some 600 families at any point in time. The Minister recently announced an additional €10 million in funding for the development of further family-focused facilities. This funding will provide additional accommodation for at least another 200 families. The provision of new custom-developed, family-focused facilities will provide more appropriate and suitable temporary accommodation for families offering family living arrangements with a greater level of stability than is possible in hotel accommodation. The facilities will offer on-site access to required services, such as welfare, health, housing services, cooking and laundry facilities and appropriate family supports and will facilitate more co-ordinated needs assessment and support planning.

However it is important to note that these facilities are not a long-term housing solution and families will be moved into independent tenancies as quickly as possible. While families are accommodated in these facilities, they will still be considered as "homeless" for the purpose of their social housing assessment and their homeless status will be reflected in monthly homeless reports. In delivering these new facilities, it is the responsibility of the housing authority to comply with all statutory requirements, including planning, building and fire regulation, and there are strict quality controls in place to ensure this. There are also guidelines in place, which were developed by my Department in consultation with the Dublin authorities, regarding standards for the various forms of temporary accommodation for families. This guidance includes standards relating to minimum sizes for family units and the provision of living spaces and bathroom facilities. Furthermore, the Dublin authorities are also guided in the provision of temporary accommodation for families by the national quality standards framework for homelessness services, which was developed by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive. This framework provides for a minimum level of quality in the provision of temporary accommodation to homeless families.

The Minister is confident that these new facilities will provide more security and stability for homeless families than would be possible in hotel accommodation. Of course, our ultimate objective remains to provide long-term accommodation solutions for the families concerned and this will continue to be the focus of concerted priority supported by the €5.35 billion in funding committed under Rebuilding Ireland.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I wish the Minister of State well and congratulate him on becoming Minister of State. What is the new target date? When does the Minister of State expect that there will be no more families in hotels? The Minister of State spoke about fire safety and living standards of a legal standard yet only a couple of weeks ago, people were sent into Lynam's Hotel, which is basically a building site and where there is real danger in terms of fire safety. I believe there were chains on entrances, which is pretty outrageous.

One of the sites is the Bargaintown warehouse on Greencastle Parade in Coolock in my constituency, which will be converted to turn it into a family hub for 40 families. According to one of the reports I received, minor alterations would be necessary for what is essentially a factory building. In fact, it used to be a Data Products electronics factory. How can alterations be minor if the building is to be turned into a liveable, fire-safe and totally accessible residence for that many families with many children? We have been told that it may cost €3.5 million. The Salvation Army is supposed to be the estate manager. Could the Minister of State confirm that this is the kind of money we are talking about?

The Government is forging ahead with this model. Clearly, supply is still the problem. When we look at the report from Mr. Brendan Kenny from Dublin City Council, we can see the breakdown of figures is as follows: new family hubs involve 254, re-classification involves 371, rapid build involves 131, HAP involves 300, acquisitions involve 150 and social housing involves 248. Mr. Kenny comes up with a total of 1,454 homes for families in distress who could be on the housing waiting list for very long periods of time. I often represent people who have been on the waiting list for eight, ten or 12 years, are in desperate accommodation, are faced with eviction or are in hotels. They will now be in hubs. The Minister of State's job is to move on housing supply. This is not a solution. As the Minister of State said, this cannot be regarded as a solution. The Minister of State is the former Chairman of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight, of which I am a proud member. Quite clearly, we need a housing programme that will deliver safe, secure and long-term local authority or voluntary housing body homes for our constituents. The hubs are not the answer. They are a deplorable development.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his kind comments. In the committee of which we were both members, the level of agreement on the direction housing policy needed to take was striking. In my answer, there was no attempt to say anything other than that hubs are a temporary arrangement, albeit a much better arrangement than B&B and hotel accommodation. I reiterate that these facilities must meet fire standards and planning requirements. I will endeavour to get specific answers from the Department about the changes that must take place in the Bargaintown warehouse in the Deputy's constituency. Suffice to say that if upwards of €3 million is earmarked for it, as was suggested by the Deputy, it would indicate that there will be significant adjustments to that particular building but I will endeavour to get a specific answer.

There are approximately 10,000 new social housing units in the production pipeline from planning stages, to design stages to accommodation being built, finished and opened. I will be doing a bit of this tomorrow in Urlingford in County Kilkenny. We can all agree that it is not quick enough but it would be unfair to say that significant progress has not been made. Even in respect of temporary accommodation of people in hotels and B&Bs, the fact that the number of people in such accommodation has dropped from 870 to 647 in the past couple of months shows that there is a significant movement in the right direction. It will take more time before this figure of 647 is reduced and eliminated. There is an obligation on the Government and the housing authorities to ensure that those families who find themselves in this emergency receive better treatment than being put into a B&B or hotel. I will endeavour to get a direct answer regarding the issue in the Deputy's constituency.