Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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248. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide funds for emergency accommodation in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown to prevent the relocation of homeless people to emergency shelters in the city where they are away from family and support networks. [17027/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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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, including emergency accommodation, rests with housing authorities. My Department does not fund any homeless accommodation or service directly but provides funding to lead housing authorities on a regional basis. Housing authorities also contribute to the funding costs for their areas from their own resources.

The various Management Groups (comprising representatives of the housing authorities within each region) of the regional Joint Homelessness Consultative Fora, are responsible for the preparation of regional statutory Homelessness Action Plans which specify the measures to be undertaken to address homelessness in their region. Section 37 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 provides that such plans be informed by available data, the costs of measures and likely financial resources, as well as Government policies and objectives. It is a requirement of the 2009 Act that these Action Plans be submitted to each of the relevant housing authorities for adoption by the elected representatives of the Council. Issues around service provision, including access to emergency accommodation within the Region, are integral to the Action Plans. Therefore, the provision of emergency accommodation in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and funding for same, are a matter for the Council and the Dublin Region Homelessness Management Group.