Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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498. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6792/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, 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. The Government’s Homelessness Policy Statement, which was published in February 2013, emphasises a housing-led approach which is about accessing permanent housing 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.

Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities and the purposes for which housing authorities may incur expenditure in addressing homelessness are prescribed in Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988. Under Section 10 funding arrangements, responsibility for rigorous assessment, appraisal and decision-making in relation to particular services rests with the statutory Homelessness Management Group of the respective region. My Department has no function in regard to decisions on operational matters.