Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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51. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps planned to reduce the number of people in homeless emergency accommodation. [37147/24]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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As the Minister knows, the figures published at the end of August for July show yet again an increase in the numbers of adults and children, including single people and pensioners, in emergency accommodation. Month after month, we see these increases. What the Minister is doing is not only not fixing the problem but also making it worse. What new initiatives does he intend to introduce in the coming months to start getting a grip on a crisis that he has not yet tackled since becoming Minister?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Supporting individuals and families facing homelessness is an absolute priority for me as Minister and the rest of the Government. Critical to supporting households to exit homelessness is increasing the supply of housing. Last year, almost 12,000 new social homes were delivered through build, acquisition and leasing, including 8,110 new-build homes, representing the highest level of new-build social homes in nearly 50 years. Including HAP and RAS, 21,733 social housing solutions were delivered throughout 2023.

Record State investment of €5 billion has been made available this year to support the State's largest home building programme ever, including 9,300 new-build social homes. This funding will also support the continued tenant in situ scheme, with provision to acquire at least 1,500 social homes where social housing tenants have received notices of termination due to landlords' intention to sell their property. This scheme delivered 1,830 acquisitions last year and was a key prevention measure. It actually ended many unsecure HAP tenancies and converted them to social housing tenancies, and it added to our social housing stock. For private tenants at risk of homelessness who are not in receipt of social housing supports, the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme was introduced. I will be introducing an amendment in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill to deal specifically with setting up the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme on a legislative basis. It is now set up on an administrative basis and it requires legislation. I will be seeking the support of all Members of the House to get that legislation through as expeditiously as possible.

Budget 2024 allocated over €242 million for the delivery of homeless services. This funding will support the provision of emergency accommodation and supports that households require to exit emergency accommodation to a tenancy. It also includes measures to enhance family support and prevention and early intervention services for children and their families through a multi-agency and co-ordinated response. Local authorities and their service delivery partners will work closely with households in emergency accommodation to support them to secure an exit to a secure tenancy. With a significant increase in social housing stock, I have specifically and personally asked local authorities to ensure sufficient homes are allocated to exit households from emergency accommodation.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Yet, month after month, the number of adults and children, including pensioners, families and single people, in emergency accommodation has increased under the Minister's watch. In May 2021, the low point of homelessness as a result of the emergency measures introduced during the Covid pandemic by the Minister's predecessor, we had 5,843 adults and 2,184 children officially recognised as homeless. In July of this year, that shot up to 10,028 adults and 4,401 children. That is an 80% increase in overall homelessness on the Minister's watch and a dramatic 101% increase – a doubling – of child homelessness.

The Minister listed a series of measures, none of which is clearly reducing the numbers of presentations or lengths of stay in emergency accommodation. He has not given us a single new initiative. The length of time people are staying in emergency accommodation, particularly singles and large families, is growing ever longer. A circular issued by the Minister's Department in July is now restricting access to tenant in situ arrangements and making it more difficult for AHBs to acquire vacant properties for people who are homeless through the capital advance leasing facility.

I ask the Minister again whether he intends to do anything different, new or additional to start getting this crisis under control, a crisis that has spiralled out of control since he became Minister.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Ó Broin and every Member of this House knows that the reasons people enter homelessness are very complex. People enter homeless emergency accommodation for a variety of reasons. One of the main preventive measures the Government introduced that is working is the purchase of homes for tenants in situ. So too is the increased supply of social housing stock. People are spending less time in emergency accommodation and exiting emergency accommodation quicker than ever before.

I will give exact statistics with regard to homelessness across the country. Cork County is down 50%, Longford is down 44%, Monaghan is down 33%, Donegal is down 14%, Galway county is down 14%, Offaly is down 9%, Kilkenny is down 4%, and Galway city and Kildare are also down. There is an acute issue, particularly in Dublin, on which I will focus. I have met the Dublin local authorities myself. I meet them regularly on supporting them to exit people, particularly larger families, out of homelessness quicker. Our prevention and exit numbers are substantially up on last year's and that is because of the new supply under the largest State building programme in the history of the State.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I always get very concerned when I hear the Minister and others say homelessness is a very complex problem, because sometimes it can be interpreted as code for saying it is the fault of the people experiencing homelessness rather than a failure of the Government to meet their housing needs.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Certainly not.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The tenants in situ circular the Department issued is restricting the numbers, capping the ability of local authorities to acquire more properties, particularly in large urban areas, and making it more difficult for approved housing bodies to purchase properties that are vacant to meet the needs of one- and four-bed households, whose members spend longer in emergency accommodation. The Minister is correct that exits were marginally up last year by comparison with the year before, but they have been down overall in the past three or four years. They are down because exits to the private rental sector have collapsed and only a small increase in direct social housing allocations has been provided. The time people are spending in emergency accommodation is getting longer, not shorter. Despite all the Minister's talk, the problem is getting worse. From what the Minister has said, I gather there will be no new initiatives or measures to bring the numbers down. I ask for the third time whether I am wrong. Is the Minister going to do anything different in the months ahead to start tackling this problem?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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There is no restriction on the tenants in situ scheme. I wrote to the local authorities-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It is in the circular.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Excuse me, do not interrupt me.

On 5 July, I wrote to every chief executive across the country stating the targets set for them were the floor, not the ceiling. We exceeded our target last year. I expect us to do that again this year. The Deputy raised this last year as well. He said there were arbitrary targets and ceilings set regarding tenants in situ. There are not.

It is a very good preventative measure. Actually, if quarter 1 of 2023 is compared to the same quarter of this year, adult exits from emergency accommodation are up by over 17% and adult preventions are up by over 57%. Most people will understand that while we are doing that, we need to increase housing stock. That is what we have done since this Government has come in. There are 115,000 new homes, with social housing new builds at a rate that we have not seen for 50 years. We will increase that further again this year. It remains our number one priority. It is a challenge.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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There is nothing new.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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It is complex and, by the way, it is not the fault of the people in emergency accommodation. No one suggested that except Deputy Ó Broin.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The numbers continue to rise.