Delighted families move into new Tallaght homes

A TOTAL of nine families with 24 children have moved into homes of their own after the opening of the Respond! Family Hub in Tallaght.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone, attended the official opening of the facility where seven families have their own apartments while two share a kitchen in adjoining apartments.

 Overall figures show that 50 families have now moved into homes of their own from five ‘Family Hubs’ in Dublin.

The average stay for families in the Respond! Family Hubs has been seven months and eight days while that figure is nine months in Tallaght and 5.5 months in High Park.

 Minister Zappone TD said the Respond! Family Hubs are a new model of accommodation that includes a range of wrap-around services to help families be in a better position to move to secure housing in the short term.

“I am happy to see that every family here has a key worker and support plans which are developed with every resident based on their own individual need,” the minister said.

“This supported temporary accommodation is designed to be as close to a home as possible to ensure that every child and adult leaves in a better position than when they arrived.”

The CEO of Respond! Housing Declan Dunne, added: “I am glad to report that 23 families including 47 children have moved out of our Family Hubs and into homes of their own.

“The overall figure of 50 families in Hubs supported by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive is a credible outcome from a new model first launched only seven months ago.

“Together we can aim to continually improve the Family Hub model to ensure that all families who currently find themselves homeless have the homes they truly want, need and deserve as soon as possible.”

Respond! has built over 5,500 social homes in its history and currently owns and manages 4,425 homes.

Founded in 1982, their mission is to build and maintain lifetime homes in thriving communities for those in housing need.

In 2016 Respond delivered 135 new social housing units. They currently support over 8,600 people on low incomes with lifetime tenancies.

Last year Respond! delivered 135 new social homes and they have recently significantly ramped up  ambitions for social home delivery with 2,918 homes currently in the development pipeline.

“We know that the long-term solution to the current homelessness crisis is the building of social housing and we aim to play our part,” a spokesperson added.

“We are committed to providing homes for life for those in need. Family Hubs are a short-term solution while we work on the long-term solution.”