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. 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. Any household assessed as homeless may be placed into temporary emergency accommodation without the requirement to first undergo a social housing assessment.
Persons granted international protection status (refugee status or subsidiary protection status) can access State provided supports and services on the same basis as Irish nationals.
Arrangements have been put in place to support households in Direct Provision with status to exit to alternative accommodation, with a number of NGOs contracted specifically to provide this support. Where the household is eligible for social housing supports, households are supported to apply for social housing where they are added to the social housing list in the relevant local authority. Eligible households can also access Homeless HAP which supports households to secure a tenancy in the private rental market.
As social housing support is intended to address a household’s long-term housing need it is expected that households applying for such support have a long-term right to reside in the State. It is the responsibility of the local authority to make a decision in each individual case with regard to qualification for social housing support, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended, and associated Housing Circulars.
Local authorities and their service delivery partners work closely with all households in need of emergency accommodation to provide appropriate emergency accommodation, and the ultimate aim is to support them to secure an exit to a tenancy.
