Homeless groups warn against tightening access to emergency accommodation

Homeless organisations have told the Government they have “profound concerns” at a potential move to tighten access to emergency accommodation, warning it would lead to an increase in rough sleeping and risk of ill health and death.

The Department of Housing last year sent stakeholders proposed amendments to the Housing Act 1988, including one that would require someone to demonstrate “habitual residency” in the State before accessing emergency accommodation.

However, the Simon Community and Focus Ireland hit back against this part of the plan.

In a written response to the department seen by The Irish Times, Focus Ireland warned this would mean local authorities would in effect be prevented from providing emergency shelter to those they deemed not to have a right to social housing, requiring someone to prove a pathway out of homelessness before accessing emergency accommodation – which it called “perverse and an abandonment of basic humanitarian values”.

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In the proposals, the department said that the effect of this would mean “some cohorts will no longer have an entitlement to homeless emergency support from housing authorities”, outlining that these people would likely be in the country unlawfully or who have just arrived from other EU countries or do not meet the definition of a worker in EU law.

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It argued that many of those in emergency accommodation do not have a “housing pathway” including migrants without legal status from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and those from within the EEA who don’t meet eligibility criteria for social housing and “as such can remain in emergency accommodation for some time”.

While the department said it is examining a system that would be put in place “to ensure no person is left without shelter”, the NGOs said this would needlessly create a parallel system to existing structures.

In a separate written response, the Simon Communities of Ireland said it had “very significant concerns” regarding the proposal, arguing officials would have to make on-the-spot decisions on complex issues of eligibility as people presented to emergency services. It said officials “are unlikely to be able to make fair and legally accurate decisions” which could cause “further trauma and harm to be done”.

Focus Ireland called the proposals, which were first reported by the Dublin Inquirer magazine, “inhumane, expensive and unworkable”.

It argued the proposal would move the problem from within the homeless system “into a much more visible challenge out on the streets and unsheltered spaces”.

It warned that categorising migrants as a “group without a housing pathway is inaccurate and unsubstantiated by data”, adding that the public has a “very low tolerance for people being forced to sleep rough and an even lower tolerance for the deaths that can often arise from this”. It added that should they be put in place there would be a “consequent increase in the risk of ill health and death”.

A spokesman for the department said that it was considering a review of legislation to ensure it “reflects the current situation of homelessness”.

“No policy changes have been introduced. Should any changes be proposed, they will take account of the views of stakeholders including NGO partners and will be brought to cabinet and before the Oireachtas in line with the normal legislative process”.

He said “exit pathways” from emergency accommodation are a key priority for the Department. “Where a person has no legal entitlement to reside in the state, or does not qualify for social housing, options to support them to exit emergency accommodation are extremely limited.”

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