Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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375. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the input, role or interaction he has had with State agencies and Departments in regard to resolving the homeless crisis, assisting homeless persons and assisting with proposals and funding to ensure an adequate supply of social housing is available to qualified applicants for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12910/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In the short time I have been in office, I have met with a number of Government colleagues, elected representatives, local authority Chief Executives, non-Governmental organisations and voluntary service providers to discuss, among other things, the issues and current challenges surrounding homelessness.

A significant number of measures are being taken to address homelessness. These measures are identified in the Implementation Plan on the State's Response to Homelessness (May 2014) and in the Action Plan to Address Homelessness (December 2014). These Plans represent a whole-of-Government approach to dealing with homelessness. The implementation of measures identified in these Plans is co-ordinated by my Department and is being overseen by a group of senior officials drawn from key State agencies concerned. This group which is chaired by my Department includes the Department of Social Protection; the Department of Health; the Department of Children and Youth Affairs the Health Service Executive; Tusla (the Child and Family Agency); the Irish Prison Service; and local authorities. The Plans and quarterly progress reports on the implementation of the measures therein are available on my Department’s website at the following link: .

The long-term solution to the challenge of homelessness is to increase the supply of homes. With regard to the supply of social housing, the Social Housing Strategy2020provides for clear, measurable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list with flexibility to meet future demand. In total, 110,000 new social housing units are targeted for delivery with 35,000 new units to be delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies, and 75,000 households to be supported mainly through the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme. The Social Housing Strategy 2020can be found on my Department’s website at the following link:

The Social Housing Strategy 2020 and associated funding of €1.7 billion under budgets 2015 and 2016 provided for the delivery of 13,000 social housing units in 2015, under a range of programmes, by local authorities and approved housing bodies. This represents an increase of 86% on the circa 7000 units delivered in 2014. The target for 2016 is again ambitious at 17,000 units.