Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 314: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will ensure that homelessness and housing are top of his priorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32541/11]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 315: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will ensure that the necessary funding for homeless services is available now and into the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32542/11]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 316: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will review a matter (details supplied) regarding the review of homeless strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32543/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 314 to 316, inclusive, together.

The issue of homelessness is a priority for Government which, despite current challenging economic circumstances, remains fully committed to protecting the most vulnerable and marginalised in our society. The Programme for Government commits to reviewing and updating the current homeless strategy and to adopting a 'housing led' approach to homelessness. Work now underway on updating the strategy will be concluded later this year and will involve the establishment of clear performance targets and associated timelines with a particular emphasis on the delivery of accommodation units for homeless persons. Central to this will be the policy approach outlined in my Housing Policy Statement of June 2011.

There is no single solution to increasing the level of social housing supply, including for those who are homeless, and maximising delivery will require flexible and diverse approaches. The key elements of these approaches will necessarily include the enhanced role of the private rental and the voluntary/cooperative housing sectors, the leasing programme, RAS, local authority social housing acquisitions and remedial works/upgrading for vacant local authority housing stock. Maximising delivery from these sources will be essential to prevent homelessness and end long term occupation of emergency facilities.

My Department will continue to work closely with voluntary service providers in the delivery of supports for homeless people including those who sleep rough. The funding for running costs of homeless accommodation and related services for 2011 is €53.413 million, which together with 10% provided from local authorities own resources, brings the total funding to €58.75m in 2011. The HSE has responsibility for funding in relation to health and care services for homeless persons.

The fostering of a resettlement culture that promotes independent living, with supports if and as appropriate, on an equitable basis for all those in need of social housing supports coupled with ongoing reconfiguration of homeless services is essential in order to move away from an outdated emergency hostel-based approach, where people have remained for long periods, damaging their self esteem and reducing their prospects of progressing to full independent living.

I am determined to tackle homelessness in a more planned and strategic way by adopting a housing led approach and providing long term solutions rather than just managing homelessness. This model of service delivery means a reduction in the amount of temporary accommodation and a move to suitable housing tenancies rather than meeting long term needs through homeless accommodation centres. The main focus in terms of housing supports provided by Government will be on meeting the most acute needs but the financial parameters in which we will be operating for the coming years rule out a return to very large capital funded construction programmes by local authorities.

In respect of counting numbers of homeless people, the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS) is an accommodation management and inter-agency service user support system which is being developed in accordance with priority actions of the implementation plan set out under the national homeless strategy 2008-2013 The Way Home . The system commenced in January 2011 and is currently in use by almost all service providers of homeless accommodation and outreach supports in the Dublin region. A staged roll out to the rest of the country will begin shortly once ongoing work to ensure consistency of use and accurate information recording by the service providers, as well as the elimination of duplicate records, validation of data etc., has been completed and Dublin City Council confirm the integrity of the data. The PASS system will in future provide good quality, timely, data on homelessness nationally as an evidence base for all homeless services.