One in every four single people seeking emergency accommodation in Dublin are coming from direct provision, members of a high-level committee on homelessness told Minister for Housing James Browne.
At a meeting of the National Homeless Action Committee earlier this year, Mr Browne was also told about an increasing trend of individuals aged 60 years and more accessing emergency accommodation for the first time. The problem seems to be particularly acute in Galway.
The committee is made up of senior civil servants and the heads of housing and homeless charities and agencies, including Simon, St Vincent de Paul, Threshold, Focus Ireland, Depaul and Crosscare.
At a meeting in March this year, Dublin Simon told Mr Browne it has seen an increasing number of people growing old in emergency accommodation. The meeting also heard there has been a rise in migrants accessing services.
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The minutes of the meeting were published by the Government yesterday. Maria Joyce of the National Traveller Women’s Forum told the Minister there was a marked over-representation of Travellers in homelessness.
She said Travellers made up 6 per cent of those accessing services despite being only 1 per cent of the population. There was also a problem finding housing for Travellers exiting into private rented accommodation from emergency accommodation. The meeting heard there had been some positive developments in tackling the issue.
A record 15,580 were homeless in Ireland at the end of April.
The tenant in situ scheme, where a local authority buys a house or apartment off a landlord to keep the tenant in place, has made a “noticeable impact” for people who received notices to quit.
The Housing First programme, which gives fast access to permanent housing for homeless people with complex needs and a long history of homelessness, was also described as having made progress. The meeting was told the programme has surpassed 1,000 tenancies, which is in advance of its targets.
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It was suggested at the meeting that approved housing bodies should focus more on developing one-bed and two-bed homes and “move away from turnkeys”.
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“If [these housing organisations] are to be a significant partner in delivering social housing, then this is critical,” the minutes state.
The meeting also highlighted the existence of a vulnerable cohort beyond the scope of Housing First who need more significant 24/7 care. There is a need for the Department of Housing and the Department of Health to work together to come up with solutions for this group of people.
“Housing First is working well, but there needs to be continued support and a stronger provision of funding with more involvement from the Department of Health. There are concerns around the location of some tenancies, which are often best suited to city centre locations,” the minutes say.
