Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 October 2025
213. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures his Department is taking to address the record number of 16,300 persons currently registered as homeless in the State, including more than 5,100 children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54286/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAddressing homelessness, and in particular homeless families and children, is a priority for my Department and for the Government.
Critical to supporting households to exit homelessness is our continued investment in the social housing programme. Budget 2026 has continued the record level of investment in social housing, with €2.9bn in capital allocated to support the delivery of social homes by local authorities. 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. It is important that local authorities ensure that sufficient allocations are being made to families in emergency accommodation and a key focus for me is to reduce the time that families are spending in emergency accommodation.
Ireland signed the Lisbon Declaration in June 2021, which committed all signatories to work towards ending homelessness by 2030. I will continue to work with the National Homeless Action Committee to ensure an all of Government approach to drive the ambition of the Lisbon declaration.
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 and reaffirm Programme for Government commitments including the commitment to develop a holistic, cross departmental approach to homelessness prevention and the commitment to ensure special supports for children impacted by homelessness.
In September, I wrote to 21 local authorities that have families in emergency accommodation for more than 12 months and asked them to use all available housing schemes to exit these families from emergency accommodation. I have ring-fenced an additional €50 million, which I secured as part of the National Development Plan process, to exit households the longest in homeless accommodation with a focus in the first instance on larger families with children and Housing First clients. This funding is in addition to the €325 million already committed to the Social Housing Second-Hand Acquisitions Programme in 2025.
Ensuring that families and children experiencing homelessness are provided with accommodation and supports is critical. Budget 2026 provides an allocation of €513.5m to provide homeless emergency accommodation and supports. Capital funding of €50m has been allocated to support the provision and maintenance of quality emergency and transitional accommodation.
