Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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3. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the allocation of additional funding to homelessness services announced in budget 2018; if he has revised targets for reducing the number of homeless families and children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45568/17]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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In light of the extra €18 million made available in the budget for homeless provision and funding for the homeless to assist in finding solutions to this issue, will the Minister now revise the targets he had set, and can he made them public?

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Budget 2018 provides for an allocation of €116 million for homeless services, which is an additional €18 million, or 18%, on this year's provision of roughly €98 million, and a 66% increase on the 2016 provision of €70 million.

The long-term solution to the current homelessness challenge is to increase the supply of homes. Accordingly, the Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is designed to accelerate all types of housing supply; in particular, it seeks to increase the delivery of social housing by 50,000 units over the period to 2021.

Working within this plan, it is intended that the long-term housing needs of households in emergency accommodation will be met through a range of social housing supports such as the enhanced housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme and general social housing allocations. Notwithstanding the significant level of homelessness presentations, considerable progress is being made on securing accommodation solutions for homeless households. In 2016, over 3,000 sustainable exits from homelessness into independent tenancies were achieved. During the first half of 2017, the rate of progress increased, with over 2,000 such exits being achieved. This level of activity, which has continued in recent months, has resulted in the number of homeless families in emergency accommodation in Dublin falling for a second successive month in September, for the first time in three years.

To mitigate the issues associated with homeless families accommodated in inappropriate temporary arrangements, housing authorities are pursuing a range of new supported temporary accommodation initiatives, referred to as family hubs. These will continue to offer much better family living arrangements while more permanent housing solutions are arranged for the families concerned.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To be more specific, has the Government adjusted its targets for eradicating homelessness arising from the allocations made in the budget and, if so, what are they? Are all families removed from hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation in keeping with 1 July target? Where do we stand on that, or what revision of that target has been set based on the improvements that will accrue based on the increase in funding, as given in this year's budget?

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I advise the Deputy that we released the homeless figures for September earlier this evening. In Dublin, for the second month in a row, and this is the first time this has happened in three years, we are exiting more families into secure and sustainable homes than are entering our emergency accommodation services.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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All the three categories of homelessness - adults, child and family - are up on the previous month. The Minister should tell the truth.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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That is the truth.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The truth is that all three categories are up.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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That is exactly the truth. For the first time in three years, and for two months in a row, we are exiting more families into secure accommodation than are entering our emergency accommodation.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The September figures for all three categories are up on August.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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That is the case for August and September. This is welcome progress. I know it is too slow and that we need to do more. The Government recognises that, and that is why we have increased our funding for homelessness services next year. We have also increased our HAP supports for next year, as committed to in the budget for 2018. There are still 690 families in hotels. Any one family in a hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation is one too many but that figure is significantly down on the high point that was reached in March earlier this year when 871 families were in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. That is a 20% decrease in the number of families in hotels. We are working with all stakeholders to ensure that these numbers reduce further over the coming months.

Regarding targets for next year, we have five new family hubs in Dublin and a further three new hubs in Limerick and Cork coming on board for our expanding homeless accommodation programme by the end of the year. That will look after at least 180 families in this first response of accommodation as we move them into more secure accommodation. We are developing out a programme for more hubs next year to help these families while we are building more houses and finding more HAP solutions for them.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Again, I will try to be specific to ensure that people can plainly understand where we are at or what progress is being made or likely to be made. The Minister said more homeless families are exiting homelessness and I do not doubt that, but as Deputy Ó Broin alluded to, unfortunately, the figures are up. Based on the increase towards addressing this issue made in the budget, has the Minister adjusted his targets? I acknowledge the five new hubs in Dublin and the three in Limerick and the other solutions in the form of hubs that other local authorities may find in the coming months. Purely based on the Minister meeting his line Minister in the Department of Finance and the increase in the allocation towards the provision of funding to help to eradicate this issue, does that mean the Minister adjusted his figures downwards?

Either it does or it does not. If it does not, let us hear it.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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To clarify, nationally the number of families accessing emergency accommodation services is up, with 89 presentations in September nationally, but the overall trend is also downward. The rate of increase between July and September of 1.8% nationally is much lower than the average for the previous three months, 4.8%, and the similar period last year. This year, every working day of the week, 80 new tenancies will be supported through social housing supports. Next year, that target increases to 98. We have the increase in family hubs as I discussed. The Deputy mentioned the target for getting families out of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. That was not achieved in the middle of the summer and I recognise that. The target still remains to look after each one of those families in every hotel and bed and breakfast, and get them into a hub as a first, temporary response, into HAP-supported accommodation or into a new home. That is our target. I cannot give the Deputy a definite deadline as to when we will actually meet that target because we are talking about individual families. We have to be sensitive to their needs. We have to work as best we can with the services to make sure that we are compassionate and can find them secure and sustainable homes that meet those needs.