Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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1086. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views that sufficient funding to tackle homelessness has been awarded to the region encompassing County Kildare, as the lead partner, and County Wicklow and County Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22365/15]

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. My Department does not fund any service directly but provides funding to housing authorities on a regional basis towards the operational costs of homeless accommodation and related services. 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 assessment and decision-making in relation to the funding of particular services rests with the housing authorities.

Annual allocations for homelessness are made on a regional basis. Kildare County Council is the lead authority for the Mid-East Region, which also encompasses Meath and Wicklow. Under Section 10 of the Housing Act, I recently confirmed a 2015 allocation of €934,267 for the Mid-East Region, which represents an increase of over 15% on the 2014 allocation of €811,275. The needs of the various regions are kept under review on an on-going basis.