Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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275. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps he is taking to provide housing for the 501 persons and 65 families who are homeless in the south-west region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43006/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, commits to reducing and preventing homelessness and provides detail on how the Government is approaching this work as a priority. This year, we are seeing a reduction in the numbers of people in emergency accommodation.

The total number of homeless adults in the south-west region fell by 107, or 18%, between October 2019 and October 2020. The number of homeless families in the region fell by 65, or 48%, over the same period. While these homeless figures are still too high, it is important to acknowledge the progress being made by local authorities and their service delivery partners in the NGO sector in this area. The most recent data show that family homelessness continues to fall nationally and is now at the lowest level seen since June 2016.

The Programme for Government recognises that many households experiencing homelessness have additional support needs and includes specific measures to address these needs. These include measures to help rough sleepers into sustainable accommodation, the continued expansion of Housing First, with a focus on the construction and acquisition of one-bed homes, and, importantly, ensuring that there is dedicated funding and resources to deliver the necessary health and mental health supports required to assist homeless people with complex needs.

Increasing the supply of housing, particularly new build social and affordable homes, is a priority for me and for this Government. The Programme for Government commits to increasing the social housing stock by more than 50,000, with an emphasis on new builds. In Budget 2021, we backed this objective with funding of €3.3 billion for the delivery of housing. The available funding will deliver 12,750 new social homes through build, acquisition and leasing. A major focus of this investment is the delivery of new build, with an overall target of 9,500 new homes. The increased targets will see increased local authority build on local authority land.