500 modular housing units approved for homeless in Dublin

Some 500 units of modular housing will be provided as emergency housing for homeless families across Dublin, Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly has announced.

Twenty-two will be in place before Christmas with another 128 to follow shortly after under a fast-tracked procurement process. A further 350 would then be delivered through a new national procurement framework, overseen by central government.

Dublin City Council will be funded to buy the units, at a total cost of €40 million.

According to the tender notice, just published on etenders.gov.ie, the first 22 units will be three-bedroom, two-storey units for five people and should be ready for occupation by mid-December. The tender notice describes the project as a "pilot . . . for the design, manufacture, supply, and delivery" of "rapid delivery housing units".

Mr Kelly would not be drawn on the location of the 22 units, saying this was a matter for Dublin City Council.

In a statement, the council said it welcomed the announcement and “awaits detail and further communication from the Department of Environment”. The city’s councillors will be called to a meeting next Thursday evening to be briefed on the details of the pilot projects.

The announcement comes as the latest figures from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive show the number of homeless children in the capital has more than doubled in a year.

During the week of September 21st to 27th, there were 1,343 children, in 637 families in emergency accommodation in Dublin, compared with 668 homeless children in 309 families in September 2014 - meaning a 101 per cent increase in the number of children, and 106 per cent increase in families, in emergency accommodation in a year.

Concerns about the impact on families and on children in particular, of living in emergency accommodation for prolonged periods, have been raised by Focus Ireland, the Ombudsman for Children, Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the United Nations.

Modular housing, which meets all building regulations, can be prefabricated in a factory and assembled within days on-site. When first mooted last year by the council's director of housing services, Richard Brady, it proved politically controversial.

However, as the number of families presenting to homeless services continues unabated, the proposal has gained wider acceptance.

Focus Ireland welcomed the announcement. Its chief executive, Ashley Balbirnie, said modular housing would "provide a huge and much needed improvement in the quality of emergency accommodation" available to families.

However, he continued: “We still require urgent action on two fronts: prevention of homelessness and support for people to move back into a home of their own. At present there is no policy response from the Government to stop [family homelessness] from doubling in the next 12 months.

“We need to see the Minister deliver on the promise of rent certainty, we need Rent Supplement raised to the actual level of rent that people have to pay and we need action to stop banks from evicting tenants when the landlord gets into arrears with his/her mortgage. Without these measures the number of homeless families is likely to increase by almost 150 by Christmas, wiping out the progress which is being announced today.”