Written answers

Thursday, 9 February 2006

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Homeless Persons

5:00 pm

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 8: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the definition of homeless or homelessness his Department uses for social welfare purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4720/06]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 32: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on whether the use of supplementary rent allowance continues to be effective in view of the criticisms raised in Focus Ireland's five-year strategy regarding shortcomings in homelessness preventive measures, especially among key vulnerable groups. [4687/06]

Photo of Séamus BrennanSéamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 32 together.

The Government is committed to addressing homelessness in a comprehensive and co-ordinated manner. Substantial progress is being made under the Government's strategy on adult homelessness, in addressing the needs of people who are homeless and in assisting them to move to accommodation that is more suitable to their needs. This has been done through the recognition that a solution to homelessness is not just about the provision of shelter or funding but that there is a need for a comprehensive approach involving health care and welfare, education, training and support, as well as accommodation, to enable homeless persons to re-integrate into society and to prevent others from becoming homeless.

As homeless persons have the same entitlements under the social welfare system as any other persons and are subject to the same qualifying conditions, there is no definition of homeless or homelessness for social welfare purposes. If homeless persons are unemployed but capable of and genuinely seeking work, then they can apply for unemployment assistance. They can be paid basic supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, if they do not fulfil the conditions for any other primary weekly payment from my Department. In addition, they can also apply for payments such as rent supplement diet supplement and exceptional needs payments under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme.

One of the most important supports provided to homeless people through the social welfare system is assistance with rent deposits to enable them to secure private rented accommodation. Some €5.8 million was provided for rent deposits in 2005.

The Government's strategic approach to tackling poverty and social exclusion is set out in Ireland's national action plan against poverty and social exclusion, NAP/inclusion, which contains a common objective of "preventing the risks of exclusion". The plan reflects, among other priorities, the Government's continued commitment to addressing housing and accommodation needs and to ending homelessness.

On the specific issue of homelessness, the NAP/inclusion commits to the provision of sufficient and appropriate emergency accommodation for rough sleepers in each local authority and health board area, in conjunction with appropriate outreach services to enable them to access it, leading to a significant reduction in youth homelessness. Responsibility for these policies rests with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and, in the case of youth homelessness, with the Department of Health and Children.

My Department, through the Office for Social Inclusion, has responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the NAP/inclusion and the achievement of the targets set out in the plan. In a recent implementation and update report on the Irish NAP/inclusion submitted by the Office for Social Inclusion to the European Commission last June, good progress in relation to the homelessness target was reported.

In recent years, a significant number of people have come to rely on rent supplements for extended periods, including people on local authority housing waiting lists. In response to this situation, the Government has introduced new rental assistance arrangements giving local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the longer-term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for 18 months or more, on a phased implementation basis. When fully operational, local authorities will meet the housing needs of these individuals through a range of approaches including the traditional range of social housing options, the voluntary housing sector and, in particular, a new public private partnership type rental accommodation scheme. These arrangements are intended to be a long-term housing option for the people concerned and reflects the Government's overall objective under the national anti-poverty strategy to enable households experiencing poverty and disadvantage to have available to them housing or accommodation, which is affordable, accessible, of good quality, suitable to their needs, culturally acceptable, located in a sustainable community and, as far as possible, in a secure tenure of their choice.

There was no criticism of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme in the Focus Ireland report and I am satisfied that the rent supplement scheme and the provision of rent deposits by my Department have a role to play in providing for the short-term accommodation needs of the homeless or those at risk of homelessness and continues to be effective in this regard. The new rental assistance arrangements provide an imaginative additional approach in supporting people with longer-term housing needs. The new scheme, particularly the rental accommodation component, will reduce housing waiting lists by providing a useful additional mechanism for providing good quality social housing, alongside more traditional social housing construction programmes and the expansion of the voluntary housing sector.

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