Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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634. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason funding to youth services is allocated based on social housing need but does not incorporate HAP; his plans to reform same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37033/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Youth services funded by my Department operate at both the national and local level. In addition to funding universal youth services aimed at all young people, my Department funds targeted youth services through the UBU Your Place Your Space scheme. Under this scheme, €38.7million was allocated in 2020 to support young people between the ages of 10 and 24 who are at risk of becoming disadvantaged, marginalised or vulnerable.

The UBU Your Place Your Space scheme is underpinned by the Area Profile, Needs Assessment and Service Requirement (APNASR) process. The APNASR Tool supports each Education and Training Board (ETB) to gather and use available demographic data and local knowledge to produce an area profile of their functional area. The ETB then carries out an analysis of the data to identify the needs of young people in that area.  This results in a Service Requirement for new or existing projects that will be funded by the Department under UBU. The approach ensures that we can target supports to the young people most in need of intervention and that funding is allocated in a transparent and objective manner.

There is no specific or singular focus on social housing need. However, this indicator is incorporated into the process as part of the Pobal HP Deprivation Index, which is a constituent part of the overall APNASR process. At the discretion of the ETB, local plans, reports and other indicators may be considered as part of the quantitative data gathering, which may or may not include social housing need indicators.

The UBU Your Place Your Space scheme operates on a cyclical basis, with cycle two commencing on 1 January 2023. The next iteration of the APNASR process will be developed in advance of cycle two and will seek to include relevant quantitative data indicators.