Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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496. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the funding provided by his Department to an organisation (details supplied) in each of the years 2017 to 2020, respectively. [17241/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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 a local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services rests with individual housing authorities. Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 sets out the purposes for which costs may be incurred by housing authorities in respect of the provision of homeless accommodation and related services.

While responsibility for the provision of accommodation for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities, the administration of homeless services is organised on a regional basis, with nine administrative regions in place. A homelessness consultative forum has been established in each region in accordance with Chapter 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2009. It is a matter for the management group of the consultative forum, in the first instance, to determine the homeless services required to address homelessness at a local level.

My Department does not fund any homeless accommodation or service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards the overall costs incurred in the provision of homeless accommodation. Furthermore, housing authorities may also incur additional expenditure on homeless related services outside of the funding arrangements with my Department. Therefore, the amount of funding granted by housing authorities to individual homeless services is a matter for the relevant housing authority.

Certified financial reports from each of the homeless regions, setting out homeless services and expenditure on these services from 2017 to 2019 are published on my Department’s website at the following link:

https//www.housing.gov.ie/housing/homelessness/other/homelessness-data.

Financial reports for 2020 are currently being examined and will be published shortly.