Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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145. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his Department collects statistics from local authorities on homeless presentations for families with dependants as well as single households and households without dependants, as opposed to persons living in emergency accommodation; and if not, his views on whether his Department has an accurate picture of the true scale of homeless needs in different areas. [35371/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The official homelessness data reports provided by housing authorities are produced using the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS), the single integrated national data information system on the State-funded emergency accommodation arrangements that are overseen by housing authorities. These reports are published on my Department's website as soon as they are available and can be accessed using the following link:

These reports contain details of adult individuals and households with dependants placed in emergency accommodation and the various types of emergency accommodation in which they are placed. While they do not contain details of those that present to housing authorities as homeless but are not placed in emergency accommodation, generally those considered homeless by a housing authority, having regard to the criteria set out in Section 2 of the 1988 Housing Act, will avail of emergency accommodation that is overseen and funded by housing authorities and therefore appear in the official homelessness data reports.

Furthermore, households that meet the eligibility criteria, have a housing need and have applied to their local authority for social housing support are placed on the housing waiting list. The oversight and management of housing waiting lists is a matter for the individual housing authorities in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated regulations.