Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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159. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide in tabular form the amount of money spent on emergency accommodation in the years 2008 to 2012, inclusive, and to date in 2013; the long-term accommodation provisions that are being delivered to reduce the cost of emergency accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45051/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The extensive information requested is not readily available in my Department. This information is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Earlier this year I published a Homelessness Policy Statement in which I outlined the Government's aim to end long-term homelessness by the end of 2016. The statement emphasises a housing-led approach which is about accessing permanent housing, rather than emergency accommodation, as the primary response to all forms of homelessness. While it is clear that a proportion of funding must be used to provide sufficient bed capacity to accommodate those in need of emergency accommodation, it is equally important that resources are channelled to deliver more permanent responses in a more focused and strategic way. The arrangements that I have put in place during 2013 for delegating homelessness funding to the lead housing authority in each of the 9 regions seek to ensure that the measures being pursued by housing authorities reflect the housing-led approach and that actions are in place towards achieving the target of ending long-term homelessness by the end of 2016.