Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 601: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the indicators he uses to judge progress against poverty in homelessness and the way in which they have progressed in the past five years. [20397/06]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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A basic indicator of progress in addressing homelessness is a reduction in the number of homeless households and persons and in the level of rough sleeping. "Counted in 2005", the third periodic assessment on homelessness in Dublin carried out by the Homeless Agency and published last week, shows a 19% decrease in the number of households experiencing homelessness in the four Dublin local authority areas since the previous assessment in 2002. In the same period the number of persons self-reporting as sleeping rough has fallen by 41%.

Detailed information in relation to homelessness nationally, was collated as part of the overall Assessment of Housing Need carried out in March 2005, the results of which will be published shortly and is also expected to generally reflect these downward trends. "The Independent Review of the Implementation of Homeless Strategies", which I published earlier this year and copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library, examined the implementation of the Government's Integrated and Preventative Homeless Strategies. The review found that significant success had been achieved in a number of areas, particularly in relation to the provision of emergency accommodation and a reduction in the levels of rough sleeping.

However, the Review noted five key priority areas which any future homeless strategy should seek to address: the provision of long-term accommodation; appropriate local treatment of homelessness throughout the country; a case management approach for homeless individuals; improved coordination of capital and revenue funding; and better data on the extent, nature and causes of homelessness.

The need for particular focus on the development of long-term accommodation, as opposed to emergency accommodation such as bed and breakfast, is one of the main recommendations of the Independent Review. Whilst the use of bed and breakfast is seen, at present, as essential for the provision of emergency accommodation, it is recognised that it is not suitable as a long-term solution to homeless accommodation and that its use should be phased out, particularly for families.

At the request of my Department, Dublin City Council, which is a major user of bed and breakfast accommodation is conducting an ongoing review of this type of accommodation. This has led to increased monitoring, improved co-ordination and better management practice within the Dublin area.

The Review concluded that the Integrated and Preventative Strategies should be amalgamated and revised. The Government have accepted the broad thrust of the recommendations of the Review and work has commenced on the preparation of a revised and updated Strategy on Homelessness, having regard to the recommendations of the Independent Review. As part of the process of preparing the revised Strategy, new policy proposals will be subject to Poverty Impact Assessment, i.e. a process to assess policies and programmes at design, implementation and review stages in relation to the likely impact that they will have or have had on poverty and on inequalities which are likely to lead to poverty, with a view to poverty reduction.