Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 665: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the plans he has to provide suitable accommodation for persons being released from prison in order to avoid those persons having immediately to become homeless on their release; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9003/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The interdepartmental team on homelessness, chaired by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, promotes and oversees the implementation of the Government's homeless strategies, which have identified adult offenders as a specific group at risk of homelessness. While prisoners leaving custody have access to the full range of accommodation available to persons seeking housing, arrangements have been put in place to ensure their specific additional needs are taken into account, as far as practicable.

Since June 2004, prisoners may apply up to nine months in advance of their release date to be assessed for local authority housing on the same basis as any other individual. Local authorities can assess whether applicants need housing, taking into account factors such as the condition and affordability of existing accommodation and medical and compassionate grounds, and can prioritise the needs of approved applicants and allocate local authority accommodation accordingly. Former prisoners can get accommodation in the private rented sector with the aid of rent supplementation through the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, subject to eligibility conditions.

If it is not possible or appropriate for a prisoner to avail of independent accommodation immediately after his or her release, a wide range of accommodation facilities is available throughout the country to cater for homeless persons with specific needs. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government recoups local authorities 90% of their expenditure on the provision of such accommodation. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, through the probation and welfare service, provides funding for the provision of specific accommodation for homeless offenders leaving custody.

Organisations such as PACE, BOND and the DePaul Trust are given funding to provide a range of accommodation options from transitional to high support facilities. Some targeted initiatives have been developed by statutory agencies to facilitate the improved integration of homeless ex-prisoners in the four Dublin authorities. The homeless persons unit provides in-reach services to prisoners in Mountjoy and a pilot in-reach service provided by the access housing unit places and supports ex-prisoners in private rented accommodation.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is in continuing contact with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to ensure that issues relating to the accommodation and related needs of prisoners leaving custody are addressed as far as practicable and that progress continues to be made in this area.