Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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63. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that homelessness charities are not currently funded adequately even to operate at current capacity and that many are experiencing major problems, with volunteers and workers unable to continue working due to increased stress resulting from increased demand and decreased funding. [44844/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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My Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation for homeless persons rests with the housing authorities. The purposes for which housing authorities may incur expenditure in addressing homelessness are prescribed in Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988.

My Department does not fund any service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards the operational costs of homeless accommodation and related services under Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988. The bulk of Section 10 funding from my Department goes towards the costs incurred in the provision of accommodation services by the voluntary sector providers who have built up the services over the years. In addition, Section 10 funding is used to support day services such as drop-in centres and food services, as well as outreach services, settlement and tenancy sustainment services and the cost of local authority and voluntary sector staff.

The Section 10 funding provided in 2012 by my Department and through local authorities to wards the costs incurred by voluntary sector providers in providing homeless accommodation and related services is set out in the table below. Housing authorities provide additional funding from their own resources to these providers. Definitive data relating to 2013 funding will not be available until the end of the year.

Section 10 Funding to Voluntary Sector Providers in 2012

In addition, details of the funding provided by my Department to organisations tackling the issue of homelessness, under the Scheme to Support National Organisations in 2012, are set out in the following table.

I have no function in relation to the financial viability of homelessness charities.