Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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160. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the current level of homelessness in Dublin and the other urban areas compared with two years ago; the amount of such homelessness that can be attributed to the new standards in rental accommodation, specifically those relating to the prohibition of bed-sits; if the requirement to have an individual bathroom for each unit of accommodation is a contributory factor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41611/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Up to now it has been difficult to quantify the number of homeless persons on an on-going basis; this is in part a consequence of the volatility within this cohort of housing need. However, during the course of 2013 the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS), which commenced operation in Dublin in 2011, is being extended nationally. When PASS is fully implemented nationally it will provide good quality, timely data which will allow housing authorities to report in relation to the on-going extent and the dynamics of homelessness as it is addressed.

In advance of the full implementation of PASS the most complete set of data available in relation to homelessness nationally is the Central Statistics Office’s special Census report, Homeless Persons in Ireland, which was published on 6 September 2012. This report indicated that a total of 65 individuals were sleeping rough on Census night, 10 April 2011, while identifying a further 3,743 people as housed in accommodation defined as emergency, transitional or long-term. Of the total of 3,808 individuals included in the report, almost 60% were in long-term or transitional housing arrangements.

From 1 February 2013, all residential rented accommodation is required to have its own separate sanitary facilities in accordance with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008. This has resulted in the phasing-out of the traditional “bed-sit”, where sanitary facilities are shared between different rental units. The Regulations allowed a four year phasing in period to facilitate landlords with the time either adequately to meet the revised minimum standards or to remove unsuitable accommodation from the rental market. Most landlords affected by these changes engaged with their tenants during this time to discuss the implications of any works that needed to be carried out on their properties and took steps to bring their accommodation into line with the new standards.

I am satisfied that the private rented residential sector contains a sufficiently large stock of decent housing and of good landlords to ensure that those previously renting accommodation at the lowest end of the market can still be accommodated within that market but in better quality accommodation and that these Regulations should not contribute to an increase in homelessness.