Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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127. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the position in relation to the CCMA Section 10 funding review for a homeless service organisation in Cork (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30056/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards these costs. Section 10 of the Housing Act, 1988 sets out the purposes for which costs may be incurred by local authorities in respect of the provision of homeless accommodation and related services.

Under the funding arrangements, the Department recoups up to 90% of the costs of regional homeless services programmes with local authorities providing at least 10% of the cost of services from their own resources. Local authorities may also incur additional expenditure on homeless related services outside of the funding arrangements with the Department.

Significant progress has been made in relation to the addressing concerns within the sector in relation to adequate levels of Section 10 funding, the Department has been working with local authorities and the NGO sector in relation to these issues, and a number of uplifts in recognition of cost of living increases were agreed and applied to SLAs over the course of 2023.

Following intensive engagement with local authorities, budgets for 2024 that include, in some instances, inflationary increases and also pay increases awarded as a result of negotiations at the Work Place Relations Commission are currently being finalised and will issue to local authorities in the coming days.

In addition, in 2023, Terms of Reference were agreed by local authorities, the Department and the NGO sector in relation to a Section 10 Funding Review led by the local authority sector. The Working Group comprises of an independent Chair, officials from the CCMA, local authorities and Department officials. The Working Group is also engaging with nominated representatives from the NGO sector, including Cork Simon. The work of the Group is expected to conclude by Q3 2024.