The Minister for Housing and Local Services, Mr Michael Finneran, T.D., has announced an enhanced package of measures to help local authorities to accelerate progress towards their targets for providing long-term housing for homeless people. It involves the Minister’s Department, the local authorities and the non-Governmental “Approved Housing Bodies” working in a concerted drive to meet the core objectives in the Government’s Homelessness Strategy of eliminating long-term homelessness and meeting long-term housing needs, with targets which, the Minister pointed out, are among the most ambitious in Europe.
Outlining the broad features of the Enhanced Programme at a briefing in Dublin, Minister Finneran explained that it involved drawing together different lines of funding under existing schemes, providing enhanced terms specifically for homeless accommodation and introducing more streamlined processing arrangements.
The programme involves both financial enhancements and other measures to maximise effectiveness. A key element of the enhanced financial package is the allocation of €20 million in capital funding specifically for the procurement of accommodation under this programme for homeless people. This will be available, in conjunction with funding under the social housing leasing initiative, to leverage the procurement of the maximum number of properties either through leasing or purchase using private funding or, in the future, borrowing from the Housing Finance Agency.
Other important elements of the enhanced programme include.
· Protection for housing bodies against letting voids.
· An enhanced repair and replacement allowance per tenancy.
· Increased flexibility in availability payments for apartments.
· Establishment by the Dublin local authorities of a regional procurement team to work with the Approved Housing Bodies and ensure prompt decisions on needs and general suitability of properties.
· Operation of a streamlined application and approval process.
· Provision of comprehensive information and briefing to housing bodies regarding the type, location and quantity of units required and processes involved.
· Assignment of clear roles within the programme to the Approved Housing Bodies, housing authorities and the Department.
· Availability of tenancy support services, as necessary.
“We want to mobilise the resources and energies of all of the relevant sectors and agencies as effectively as possible”, the Minister said urging the Approved Housing Bodies, in particular, to grasp the opportunity now being presented under this programme
Minister Finneran pointed out that this initiative builds on a range of action already taken to provide an effective framework of policy, legislation, funding and schemes to achieve the aims of the Government’s Homeless Strategy, including the following.
· Increase in funding for homeless accommodation and related services by 5% in 2009 to €62m, which is being continued in 2010, notwithstanding retrenchment in State funding generally;
· New legislative provisions relating to homelessness, which came into force on 1 February 2010, with arrangements currently under way to establish statutory Homelessness Fora and Management Groups. These will help to make homelessness a more central element of the local authority functions, promote a more planned approach to homeless services throughout the country and help authorities to ensure that decisions on services are based on criteria of evidenced need, value for money and achieving the best outcomes for homeless people.
· The launch of the “SLI” initiative on homelessness in 2009 to provide for both housing and tenancy supports to help homeless people to progress successfully to independent living in mainstream housing. A public procurement process for the support service in Dublin has already been carried out and assessment of tenants is well advanced. Accommodation can be sourced either from unsold affordable housing or the social housing leasing initiative. The programme now announced is, effectively, an enhancement of the SLI initiative.
Minister Finneran paid particular tribute to the organisations and staff both in statutory and non-statutory organisations whose dedicated work and co-operation had helped to ensure that no fatalities were reported among homeless people due to the effects of the recent very severe weather conditions. Noting that other countries had been less fortunate, the Minister also mentioned that pre-planning for cold weather contingencies had played an important role in coping with the situation and he signalled further action to continue the significant progress already evident towards the strategic objective of ending any need to sleep rough.
The Minister also repeated assurances, which he had already given, that there was no question of any homeless facilities being closed without suitable alternative accommodation being available, contrary to some misunderstanding that appeared to have arisen in relation to proposed changes in the provision of Dublin homeless services. These changes, which are currently being implemented by the local authorities, the Health Service Executive, voluntary service providers and the Homeless Agency, are critically important and will result in much better outcomes for homeless people. In particular, they will involve a move away from an outdated, emergency hostel-based approach to one based on independent living in mainstream accommodation with supports as required.
