Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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1086. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide an update on the measures his Department is taking to address homelessness among the over 65s and to prevent people retiring into homelessness; the number of people over 65 in County Wicklow and County Wexford that have entered homelessness, for the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59173/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Supporting individuals and families experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness is a priority for my Department and Government.

Increased supply is key to addressing homelessness, meeting need and addressing the challenges in the housing market. Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost rental homes at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. A record level of investment is being provided for the delivery of housing in 2026, with €5.2bn in Exchequer capital funding complemented by investment through the Land Development Agency (LDA) and lending from the Housing Finance Agency (HFA), bringing the total capital funding for housing in 2026 to over €9 billion. This record level of funding is supporting the delivery of social, affordable and cost rental homes. The 2026 capital funding will be supplemented by over €2 billion in current funding to address housing needs.

The long-term housing needs of families and individuals, including those aged 65 and over, who are in emergency accommodation, will be met through a range of social housing supports such as the Housing Assistance Payment scheme and through general social housing allocations. Critical to supporting households to exit homelessness is our continued investment in the social housing programme. €2.9bn of the capital funding for housing in 2026 has been allocated to support the delivery of social homes. This continued investment in the social housing programme will increase the supply of stock available to allocate to households on the social housing waiting list, including households in emergency accommodation.

In addition, the Programme for Government includes a number of commitments related to increasing the supply of housing for older people. These commitments build upon the policy objectives in Housing for All, which commit to increasing housing available to older people to facilitate ageing in place with dignity and independence. Work on these commitments is ongoing within a Policy Group established to consider the implementation of these commitments through specific measures in the new Housing Plan that is currently being prepared by my Department.

The new Housing Plan, which will be published shortly, will include robust and targeted actions that will increase the provision of housing. The plan will also include a range of measures to address homelessness, including the development of a Homelessness Prevention Framework to ensure all possible measures are being taken across Government to prevent homelessness.

My Department currently gathers and publishes data on a monthly basis on the number of homeless persons accommodated in emergency accommodation funded and overseen by local authorities. These reports are based on data provided by local authorities, produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS).

While responsibility for the provision of homeless accommodation and related services rests with individual housing authorities, the administration of homeless services is organised on a regional basis with a lead authority in place for each region. County Wicklow is included in the Mid East region with Kildare County Council as the lead authority. County Wexford is included in the South East region for the purposes of homeless administration, with Waterford City and County Council as lead authority.

The monthly homelessness report includes details of individuals, families and the dependants of these families who accessed emergency accommodation during the relevant count week of the month in question. The report also includes the number of adults in emergency accommodation by age band and region. The most recently published data is in respect of September 2025. The reports are collated on a regional basis and are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/ and are also published to the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digialisation's open data portal www.data.gov.ie/.

My Department also publishes quarterly progress reports which are based on quarterly performance reports submitted by the nine regional lead authorities responsible for the administration of homeless services at local level. These quarterly performance reports include information on presentations to homeless services by single adult and family households who entered emergency accommodation. The most recent published data is in respect of Q3 2025 and the report is available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/

My Department does not hold any information in relation to the number of individuals who have entered emergency accommodation by age band. This information may be available from Wicklow and Wexford County Councils.