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 a local level.
Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual local authorities. Decisions on the assessment of households for homeless services, the most appropriate form of such support, and the allocation of that support are a matter for the local authority concerned.
Under the Housing Act 1988 it is a matter for each local authority to determine whether a person is regarded as homeless; section 2 of the Act sets out the requirements in this regard. This allows local authorities to provide an immediate response to ensure households are provided with the accommodation and supports required while the ultimate aim is to work with households to exit homelessness in the shortest timeframe possible. When a household has been assessed as homeless, section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 provides that a local authority may provide accommodation and related services to that household.
Households need not be eligible for social housing to access homeless supports and homeless households can be provided with temporary emergency accommodation without undergoing a social housing assessment. This ensures local authorities can respond quickly and effectively to the various needs of cases that may arise.
Local authorities may charge for the provision of emergency accommodation under the Housing Act 1988; section 10(5) provides that, where accommodation or lodgings are made available to a person under section 10, a housing authority may require that person to pay a charge as they see fit, having regard to the means of the person, the cost of such accommodation or lodgings and other matters the authority considers appropriate. Requiring a person to pay a charge for emergency accommodation is a matter for individual local authorities.
Operational issues in the day to day delivery of services, including provision of emergency accommodation provided through a local authority, are a matter for the relevant local authority. The Minister is prevented from intervening in relation to the procedures followed, or decisions made, by local authorities in the provision of housing support in relation to any individual.
