Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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318. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the timeline and action plan for meeting the targets to work towards ending homelessness, as agreed in the Lisbon Declaration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52647/25]

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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319. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if work has commenced on developing a national homeless prevention framework; if this framework will be allocated resources in Budget 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52648/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 318 and 319 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 local authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual local authorities.

Supporting individuals and families at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness is a priority for Government. Critical to addressing homelessness is increasing the supply of housing. The overall capital funding available for housing in 2025 is over €6.5 billion, to support the delivery of social, affordable and cost rental homes. Housing supply has increased significantly since the publication of Housing for All in 2021. In particular, 32,787 social homes have been delivered through Build, Acquisition and Leasing schemes from 2022 to 2024. This increased supply of social housing is supporting the increased allocation of homes to households on the social housing waiting list, including households in emergency accommodation. Ireland signed the Lisbon Declaration in June 2021, which committed all signatories to work towards ending homelessness by 2030. The Government reaffirmed Ireland’s commitment to the Lisbon Declaration in the Programme for Government.

The Government's new Housing Plan will be published shortly. The plan will contain a suite of robust and targeted actions that will increase the provision of housing through accelerating supply and increasing the affordability of homes for our citizens. The Plan will also include a range of measures to address homelessness. The Plan will reaffirm the Programme for Government commitment to developing a holistic, cross departmental approach to homelessness prevention. It is intended to commence work on developing a national Homelessness Prevention Framework this year to ensure all possible measures are being taken across Government to prevent homelessness.

Funding of €303 million is available for the delivery of homeless services in 2025. This funding supports the provision of emergency accommodation and wrap around supports. In addition, capital funding of €25m will support the delivery of high quality transitional and emergency accommodation for individuals experiencing homelessness. A key focus of local authorities and their service delivery partners is to support households in emergency accommodation to exit emergency accommodation to a tenancy.