Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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43. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to establish a tenancy protection unit in any area outside Dublin; if he recognises the urgent need for such a unit in certain high-pressure areas suffering from local housing crises; his plans to resource local authority staff to enable local authorities to provide even a basic housing service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15559/15]

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. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities. 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 decision-making in relation to particular services rests with the statutory Homelessness Management Group of the respective region.

A Tenancy Protection Service was put in place in the Dublin Region in June 2014. This service is delivered by Threshold Ltd. and is funded by the Dublin Region housing authorities under Section 10 funding arrangements. The Tenancy Protection Service operates in tandem with a Tenancy Sustainment Protocol that was agreed with the Department of Social Protection in relation to the operation of the Rent Supplement scheme. A similar service was implemented in Cork in January 2015 and its implementation in other regions or housing authority areas is a matter for those relevant authorities.

As regards resourcing, I have made an additional €10.5 million available for homeless accommodation and services across the country in 2015. This is an increase in funding of over 20%, bringing the Exchequer contribution to €55.5 million. The 2015 regional allocations are currently being finalised with a view to their confirmation shortly. Housing authorities also contribute to the funding costs for their areas from their own resources.