Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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664. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of homeless hubs in operation in the Dublin City Council area; the location of each hub; the capacity of each hub; and the number of individual units in each hub in tabular form. [25342/19]

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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665. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of hotels, bed and breakfasts and similar forms of emergency accommodation excluding family hubs in the Dublin City Council area which are used to house homeless families; the location of each; and the number of homeless families housed in each in tabular form. [25343/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 664 and 665 together.

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 emergency accommodation for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities.

It is recognised that hotel accommodation is inappropriate for accommodating homeless families for anything other than a short period of time. Accordingly, the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness includes the objective that hotels will only be used in limited circumstances as emergency accommodation for families. To meet this objective housing authorities are pursuing the delivery of a range of additional and enhanced family-focused facilities, or family hubs, which offer a greater level of stability than is possible in hotels, while move-on options to long-term independent living are identified and secured.

There are now 14 family hubs operating in the Dublin City Council area that offer 446 units of family accommodation, as detailed in the following table. Further such facilities are being planned for delivery in 2019, details of which will become available as projects are finalised.

My Department does not collate information regarding the number of hotels and bed and breakfasts that are used as emergency accommodation. Decisions on the range of emergency accommodation services required are a matter for individual housing authorities in consultation with the Management Group of the relevant regional joint Homelessness Consultative Forum.