Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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12. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government when he expects the target of taking all homeless families with children out of hotels except in exceptional circumstances to be met; the indicative length of time such families are expected to stay in family hubs; the arrangements made for children to get to school, after-school programmes and so on while they are in hubs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33377/17]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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My question is in a couple of parts. First, when does the Minister expect the target, which has not yet been met, to take families out of hotels to be met? Second, how long does he expect families in hubs will be there? I also ask him about arrangements for children getting to school and other activities.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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As part of the response to the commitment contained in Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness that, by mid-2017, hotels would only be used as emergency accommodation in exceptional circumstances, housing authorities are delivering a number of family-focused, supported temporary accommodation facilities, also called family hubs.

While this was an ambitious target, at the end of May over 830 homeless families had indeed exited commercial hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation since the publication of Rebuilding Ireland in July 2016 and 405 families had been prevented from entering them. While 647 homeless families were still being accommodated in such facilities at the end of May, all of these have been advised in writing of their pathway to alternative, more sustainable accommodation. My primary target now is to prevent homeless families from entering hotels and to find them more secure accommodation, including in family hubs.

Family hubs are an important first response for families who become homeless and who have no alternative other than commercial hotels. They are not a long-term housing solution but these custom-developed facilities offer family living arrangements with a greater level of stability than is possible in hotel accommodation, while the relevant housing authorities identify and secure move-on options to long-term independent living as quickly as possible. Furthermore, such arrangements will facilitate more co-ordinated needs assessment and support planning, including on-site access to required services, welfare, health, housing services, cooking and laundry facilities and appropriate family supports, such as the after-school programmes referred to by the Deputy.

For the 2016-17 school year, my Department provided funding to facilitate Leap cards being made available, via the family homelessness action teams, to all homeless families residing in commercial hotels in the Dublin region, allowing for free public transport for school journeys for school children and, where necessary, accompanying adults. My Department is considering the arrangements that will apply for homeless families accommodated in enhanced supported temporary accommodation and family hubs for the 2017-18 school year.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Minister said people were advised of pathways but will he follow up to ensure that those pathways deliver and that we do not find families still in hotels by the end of the summer?

I wish to concentrate on the hubs. Deputy Ó Broin referred earlier to the report yesterday from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in which it specifically recommends that families should not be in hubs for longer than three months and makes a very strong family welfare case in this regard. Earlier today, I was at a conference organised by Senator Colette Kelleher at which we again heard about the effect on children of being in such situations, not having their own homes, not being able to bring their friends home and all the things that go with having a home. Will the Minister consider Emily Logan's recommendation that families should not have to stay any longer than three months in hubs?

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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To clarify, the original target for moving homeless families out of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation in Rebuilding Ireland always referred to exceptional circumstances. We must recognise that there are certain situations in which a family may have a particular need or difficulty that would require a tailored solution and we must be sensitive to those needs. Different families have different needs. We discussed this previously at a committee meeting at which I think Deputy Boyd Barrett said that in certain circumstances the hotel would be a better option than the hub. I fundamentally disagree with that. Hotels are an absolutely inappropriate place for a homeless family to have to live because they are not necessarily safe spaces for children at all. They do not have the kinds of facilities, such as play space, that children need and they do not have cooking or laundry facilities and also because a family living in a hotel could find themselves having to leave the very next day. We know this is happening because we know that families are presenting again the morning after each time. That is absolutely not what we need to do. The hubs are there as a response but, as I have said, they are a first response. They are not meant to be a permanent solution or a second solution. This is why we have the policy in place for the hubs that we have and why I hope very soon, because the new hubs are coming on stream, that new families presenting as homeless will not have to go into hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I am still concerned. The Minister said particular arrangements are needed for particular families that have particular difficulties but I want to ensure that he will track this and that these families will not still be in hotels when we come back here in the autumn. He said there are exceptional circumstances but leaving a family for a very long period, no matter what the exceptional circumstances are, in a hotel is not appropriate. I would like a more specific answer to this.

Second, last year, the Leap card arrangements for schools came into place much later than was intended. Can the Minister give us an assurance that this year homeless families will have their Leap cards, or whatever other arrangement is made, when the children go back to school in September?

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I am afraid that when we come into September, some families will still be in hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation because of exceptional circumstances, which was signalled when the target was first put in place last year. They may have particular needs of which we must be very mindful, and for which we must find a tailored solution. I wish it were not the case but that is a situation we will have in September, unfortunately.

The comments on the report from yesterday are welcome, as are the recommendations. Many of the recommendations are already in train, and when one has the opportunity to go to the Crosscare, Mater Dei, facility one will see that in action.

On the issue of the Leap cards, my understanding is that an agreement has already been reached for the school year, so there should not be any delay in making sure that families have those by the beginning of the school term in September.