Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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22. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of his plan to end the use of hotels, bed and breakfasts and similar accommodation for homeless persons; if his targets are being met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45103/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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At the end of September 2017, some 690 families were being provided with temporary accommodation in hotel and B&B arrangements in the Dublin Region.  This number is down from the total of 871 recorded at the end of March 2017 and must also be considered in the context of the ongoing numbers of families presenting as homeless.

The Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness comprises a range of actions to tackle homelessness and to assist families residing in emergency accommodation. It is evident that the long-term solution to the current homelessness crisis is to increase the supply of new homes, across all forms of housing, to 25,000 per annum by 2020. Over one year into the plan, all of the key statistical indicators point to a significant scaling up of home building activity with planning permissions, commencement notices and ESB residential connections all on the increase.  With over 19,000 households having had their social housing needs met in 2016, I expect that a further 21,000 such supports will be delivered in 2017.

With regard to the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), there are currently more than 28,500 households being supported by the scheme and over 14,500 of these households commenced HAP support since the beginning of 2017; more than 350 households are being set up on HAP each week in 2017.

It is intended that the long-term housing needs of households in emergency accommodation will be met through a range of social housing supports such as the HAP scheme and through general social housing allocations.  Progress is being made with over 3,000 sustainable exits from homelessness into independent tenancies being achieved in 2016, while over 2,000 such exits were achieved during the first half of 2017. 

In addition to the actions outlined above, housing authorities are delivering custom-developed facilities, referred to as family hubs, which offer family living arrangements with a greater level of stability and more coordinated needs assessment and support than is possible in hotel accommodation.