Council given extra cash to tackle homelessness

DUBLIN City Council has been allocated a further

?¬4 million to help tackle homelessness in the region.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly, announced that his department is providing the extra money on top of the council’s normal homelessness allocation for 2014.

“This further significant allocation demonstrates the Government’s commitment to tackling the homelessness problem which is most acute in the Dublin region,” Minister Kelly said. “I have secured a budget of

?¬55.5 million in 2015 for homelessness across the country.

“This represents an increase of

?¬10.5 million on the current year. I want housing authorities to continue to work with the non-profit sector to take action to prevent homelessness as far as possible; to provide housing to homeless households, despite the scarce supply; and to support those homeless households as they try to rebuild their lives following their exit from homelessness.”

Minister Kelly added that he was “very much aware of Dublin City Council’s difficulties in funding its homelessness programme” and, in particular, the costs of emergency accommodation arising from the increasing number of families presenting as homeless.

“I recognise the emergency situation that is now presenting and I am responding to it,” he stated.

Fine Gael’s Catherine Byrne said the

?¬4 million in additional funding would go a long way towards alleviating the current homelessness problem.

“I was very pleased to learn the Government is allocating

?¬4 million in additional funding to deal with Dublin’s homelessness problem,” she said.

“The extra funding will allow us to keep Dublin’s homeless services until the end of the year.

“The timing of this is particularly welcome as we come into the harsh winter months.”

According to Deputy Byrne, statistics from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive show that in the third quarter of this year, 2,456 individuals accessed emergency accommodation in the Dublin City Council area.

An average of 130 emergency accommodation beds was allocated nightly in Dublin.

“This is simply too many people without a home, seeking emergency accommodation and it cannot continue,” she added.

“More positively the figures also show that for the same period, 248 individuals moved on to independent living or tenancies.

“Also for this period, Dublin City Council successfully negotiated the transfer of 60 NAMA units for homeless households for 2014, and work is ongoing in this regard.”

Meanwhile, a meeting was held last week to launch a new campaign group to tackle the problem on the Southside.

Clondalkin Homeless Action aims to look at homelessness and see what positive steps can be taken to address the issue.

They have established a Facebook page and are looking for volunteers and donations.

“We have also launched an appeal for clothing items,” said Cllr Francis Timmons.

“If people would consider buying one extra item in the weekly shopping for example, gloves scarfs or socks, it would help a homeless person this winter.

“The idea is to help as many people in the Clondalkin and Tallaght areas who are homeless or who are at risk of becoming homeless.”

Cllr Timmons added: “Homelessness can happen to anyone. We need to work together to develop solutions and support because people who would have previously not been in danger of homelessness are now at risk due to bank reprocession of houses and rent caps.”

Cllr Timmons has called for boarded up houses to be made liveable immediately and for emergency accommodation in the form of a hostel on the Southside to be provided as a matter of urgency.