Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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200. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the direction that he has provided in respect of housing allocations being prioritised for families who are regarded as homeless; if he is aware of indications that this policy is driving up the numbers in homelessness; and if he will undertake an urgent review of this policy. [39988/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Under a Ministerial Direction, which applies until 31 January 2016, key local authorities are required to prioritise homeless and other vulnerable households in the allocation of tenancies under their control. The four Dublin local authorities have been directed to allocate 50% of all available dwellings to such households, while the local authorities in counties Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford have been directed to allocate 30%. Under this Direction , each of the identified housing authorities must ensure that at least the relevant percentage, referred to above, of the dwellings available for allocation under Section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 during the specified period will be allocated to households that are qualified for social housing support (i.e. those who are on the record of qualified households) and that, on or before 1 June 2015, have been deemed by the authority to have one or more of the following needs:

(i) was in an institution, emergency accommodation or a hostel (i.e. a homeless household within the meaning of Section 2 of the Housing Act 1988);

(ii) has an accommodation requirement arising from an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual impairment (i.e. households where one of its members has a disability and as such is deemed to be a vulnerable household); and

(iii) was in accommodation that was unsuitable for the household's adequate housing on exceptional medical or compassionate grounds (i.e. including households the subject of domestic violence and young people leaving State care and as such deemed to be a vulnerable household).

A copy of this Direction is available on my Department's website at:.

This Direction succeeds a previous similar Direction which applied from 27 January 2015 to 26 July 2015. The qualifying date and other focused qualifying criteria, as set out above, help to guard against the Direction being a contributing factor in new homeless presentations. However, I will keep the operation of the Directive under ongoing review.