This year we have helped over 100 Families in need locally and On Behalf of all at “Clondalkin Helping Homeless” and the Families & people we helped this Christmas , I want to thank Lorraine Nugent Murphy and Clonburris NS, Liscarne preschool , Elaine Hayes, GMPI/ Reprocentre, Sam McCauley chemist , Tescos Food drive , Clondalkin Builders providers , Monroes in the Mill , The Happy Pear , Boots Pharmacy in LiffeyValley , Martina Callanan , Elizabeth Roycroft , John Neville and all at Bank of Ireland , Deborah Carroll & the Cutting Room , Yvonne Downey and St Damien’s mission , Fiona Coy & the GAA Round Towers , Clare Morgan & the Senior Citizens group in Towers , Mary Kennedy & the Clondalkin Countrywomans Association , The Church of the Latter Day Saints , Graham Warren & all at Clondalkin Youthreach for all there Kind donations , Muruchu O Brian & John Boscos, Caitriona Leavey & the gang from Clondalkin Yoga , Rita Harte & Clondalkin Womans Group & to all the Individuals that donated to the cause. It shows the great community we have in Clondalkin. Also our amazing volunteers Darren Lamont , Lisa Cuffe , Catherine Mulhall , Maeve Murphy , Mary Pavlides , Peter Forde & Katie Stapleton who delivered the food.

I Welcome the Kilcarbery the Grange Integrated Housing development that was voted on and agreed by the majority of councillors It’s a good mix of social and private housing over five years and will deliver 900 housing units and will also provide a school and retail units , I would of preferred and my first option would be that SDCC build this but we are in desperate need of housing and this development is badly needed . the location is excellent and the 900 homes will be welcomed by people desperately needing accommodation

Will you give one hour to highlight the Housing / Homelessness crisis this Christmas? , This Saturday from 12-1 outside Clondalkin Civic office Join us to launch the Clondalkin & Lucan Housing Action Network. Speakers are Cllr Francis Timmons (Independent) and Cllr Ruth Nolan (Independents4Change) Darren Corrigan , Sean Phelan and others to be confirmed There will be a follow on public meeting in the Waterside pub at 7pm on Tuesday the 13th.

Attended a briefing on the Clonburris SDZ , this has the potential to deliver 9,000 houses it will take upto 18 months to develop and agree a plan 10% of these will be social housing , we got briefed on how we might achieve this a lot of work ahead but this and the finish of Adamstown has the potential to deliver 18,000 homes to our county. A lot of investors will buy homes and rent them out. Will keep people updated and am interested in feedback and opinions.

470 Houses represents 5.7% of Houses needed

At todays SDCC meeting i raised the following concerns

My concern is In relation to Objective 1 under Housing, Social & Community Development that aims to Put in place a three year programme to supply social housing in the context of the Social Housing Strategy 2020 , as of 29/02/2016 there were 9,254 applications on South County Dublin council’s housing waiting list and 291 people in South County Dublin were registered as homeless – 5,228 applications of this list are for the Clondalkin – Lucan area with 7,279 of these children, – people are living in Hotels , Hostels, B & Bs , Emergency accommodation , rough sleeping , Overcrowding , damp and unsuitable accommodation and SDCC plan to build just over 5% of what’s needed 470 Houses as per headed item 17! Daily people contact in desperation and the replies are less than adequate and slow in nature. CBL had no houses last week 2 the week before and one the week before that, in my opinion there is not the sense of urgency in relation to this crisis. I don’t believe SDCC is dealing with this issue with the urgency it demands. Of the 280 proposed units 105 will be Rapid Build Units and will be distributed over a number of the projects I understood that the rapid builds would be extra housing to meet demands? I visited the rapid houses in Popintree and was impressed with space and quality but still question value for money at €191.000 per house. I also would like to know the reasons why only 22% with a possible further 3% of Nama properties offered have been accepted? I also want to highlight the need for step down accommodation from 3 and 4 beds to free up much need housing stock. Again I repeat as an elected counsellor that I don’t believe SDCC is dealing with this issue with the urgency it demands.

Mot (7) Submitted By: Councillor F. Timmons Item ID: 47830
Date Submitted: 15/01/2016

”Following the Constitutional Convention calls for enhanced constitutional protection for economic, social and cultural rights In May 2014, SDCC Calls for the Government to enact same. In particular, the Convention called for explicit recognition in the Constitution of the right to housing; the right to social security; the right to essential healthcare; the rights of people with disabilities; linguistic and cultural rights; and rights covered in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. We agree to write to An Taoiseach asking for the Government to enact same.”

I would like to support the aim of the Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights Initiative to ensure that these rights, already committed to by Ireland through the ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1989, are rendered legally enforceable through our constitution. These rights include the right to housing; the right to social security; the right to essential healthcare; the rights of people with disabilities; linguistic and cultural rights.

The Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights Initiative is a network of 22 organisations and individuals with a shared belief that increased protection of Economic Social and Cultural rights in Irish law would contribute to a more just, inclusive and equal society. Made up of groups such as Amnesty International Ireland ,National Women’s Council of Ireland , Irish Council for Civil Liberties , Focus Ireland , Children’s Rights Alliance , Age Action , Pavee Point , Disability Federation of Ireland and the European Anti-Poverty Network.

Some examples of Ireland’s failure to meet some of these rights we have 1,800 children homeless, 90,000 plus in need of housing and other huge housing needs. 105 people were sleeping rough across the Dublin region on the night of 14 April – I strongly believe that the right to a home should be in our constitution, by putting Economic Social and Cultural rights into Irish law we can start and aim to build a fairer and equal Ireland.

The Constitutional Convention recommended by an overwhelming majority of 85%, to the Government, that Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights be given enhanced protection in the Constitution. I welcome this recommendation.

The Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights Initiative calls on the Government to accept the Constitutional Convention’s recommendation.

The recommendation has presented Ireland with a unique opportunity to take a significant step towards fulfilling its international human rights obligations and to ensure that all human rights, civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural, are granted equal protection by the Constitution. It would also ensure that Ireland keeps pace with the growing international trend towards according constitutional protection to these fundamental human Rights.

As we hear a lot about a recovery I feel this recovery must be for everyone and as we approach a general election I would ask all parties and Independent’s to commit to a referendum on this early on in the life of the next Dail.

If further examination of this issue is deemed necessary, for example through the establishment of a working group to consider the implications of constitutional incorporation of these rights and to formulate the appropriate wording for a referendum bill, I urge that such a process be quickly put in place in the early days of the next dail. I would urge that any such further examination process should:

– Be open and transparent;
– Draw on internal analysis of relevant Departments, as well as external expertise, including from civil society organisations;
– Have a clear and public terms of reference;
– Have a defined timeframe for reporting;
– Be mandated to make public its findings and reasoning.

Households accessing emergency accommodation do so via contracted providers and/ or independent commercial enterprises. The majority of these households access accommodation which is contracted to the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, and is therefore operational 365 days a year without interruption.

Owing to an unprecedented increase in demand for family accommodation in 2015 a minority of households with dependent children access emergency accommodation via rooms in independent B&B/hotel settings, which are paid for by the local authorities, in independent B&B/hotels which are not willing to enter into contracted ongoing rooms allocations with Dublin City Council.

Commencing in October 2015, Dublin City Council, on behalf of the four Dublin Local Authorities, has sought to ensure the duration of bookings extended beyond the Christmas period and into 2016. Where some B&B/hotels are closing during Christmas, this has resulted in alternative accommodation being booked for families to ensure that accommodation is provided without interruption.

In some cases families are returning to extended family for the period of December 24th to December 27th, and subsequently returning to their emergency accommodation.

The Dublin Local Authorities are working with families on a daily basis to extend, and/or make alternative bookings, to ensure that emergency accommodation is provided throughout the Christmas period. It is very important to us that no ensure no family sleeps rough and we will do all in our power to make sure this is the case.

The homeless helpline will operate from 10am to 2am every day from December 25th – January 3rd inclusive, whereby advice or emergency accommodation provision for households will be available. The following important information is also brought to your attention:

IF YOU ARE AT RISK OF ROUGH SLEEPING
If you are at risk of rough sleeping, please contact the Housing First Service on 086 813 9015 from 7am until 11am to assist you to access emergency accommodation.
This service is the official on- street response team to assist you if you are at risk of rough sleeping. Please contact the service immediately and be aware that if you are outside the city centre area, transport will be available to bring you to accommodation if you need it.
We would also like to appeal to members of the public to contact the service on www.homelessdublin.ie if they meet a person who is rough sleeping. The website provides a quick link to be completed, that will immediately alert the Housing First Service to the location of the person who might be sleeping rough.

IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF EMERGENCY ACCOMMODATION
If your tenancy has ended and you are in need of emergency accommodation over the Christmas period from December 25th 2015 until January 3rd 2016 please contact Dublin City Council’s Homeless FREEPHONE on 1800 707 707. This service will be available everyday from 10am until 2am.

IF YOU ARE A FAMILY AND ARE ACCOMMODATED IN A COMMERCIAL HOTEL
The four Dublin local authorities have been contingency planning since October 2015 to ensure that the placements for households that are currently accommodated in commercial hotels can be extended through the Christmas period into early January 2016, whilst daily local authority placement offices are not open.

Where hotels are closing for the Christmas period, alternative placements have been put in place.
This information has been communicated to all relevant families, however we would appeal again to families to contact 1800 707 707 if they are concerned about their placement.

IF YOU ARE RENTING AND WORRIED ABOOUT LOSING YOUR HOME
If you are renting privately and are worried about your lease ending before Christmas or early in the new year, the Dublin local authorities would urge you to contact their dedicated Tenancy Protection Service, provided by Threshold on 1800 454 454 as soon as you feel your tenancy is at risk.

Cllr Timmons says ‘’The latest figures from DHRE show yet again more increases in people accessing Homeless accommodation. It is again more statistics that show the Failure of the Government to deal with the Housing crisis. I have said all along it is a national crisis and should be dealt with as such. People need housing now. The government should call it what it is A National crisis. It’s another damming blow to the government that shows a clear lack of action and a plan to deal with this ongoing and developing national crisis. These people need homes not more election promises and empty words. This is a national disgrace ‘’

We had 1975 IN HOMELESS ACCOMMODATION on 30^TH June

We had 2,119 IN HOMELESS ACCOMMODATION on 30^TH September –that’s 144 extra people or 6.2% increase

We now have 677 FAMILIES WITH 1,425 DEPENDENTS IN HOMELESS ACCOMMODATION compared to 556 FAMILIES WITH 1,185 DEPENDENTS that’s a 7.29% rise in Families and a 20.25% rise in dependents since July.

Cllr Timmons strongly condemns the Focus Ireland run Hostel on Johns Lane in Dublin 8 he says ‘’ it is disgraceful that anyone is placed in emergency accommodation like this. The conditions are dirty and un-hygienic. No person that has found themselves in need of emergency accommodation should be placed in this filth. The Government need to intervene and an immediate inspection needs to be undertaken and the place brought upto a liveable standard. This is disgusting and inhumane One person has said to me they would rather sleep in Corkagh park than in this dirt’’

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

QUESTION NO.6

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

“To ask the Chief Executive for an update report on numbers homeless and numbers in hotels in the Clondalkin area?”

REPLY:

As at the 13th October 2015, there are 249 households registered homeless with South Dublin County Council. The CPS Placement system managed by Dublin Regional Homeless Executive unfortunately does not provide details by Electoral area however currently there are 44 households in Hotel Accommodation. This can change from day to day as families are currently sourcing accommodation under the Self Accommodation Option, when sanctioned by South Dublin County Council Homeless Section.

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

QUESTION NO.5

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

“To ask that the Chief Executive present a list of sites suitable for a Homeless hostel and that all options be presented to this area committee as a matter of urgency so a plan of action can be drawn up and the relevant Department can be lobbied for funding. Also that a full update be given on funding for social housing, That a report is given on how this has been progressed as a matter of urgency?

(Motion No 44121 May 2015 and 41187 November 2014)

REPLY:

The Council is currently examining it land ownership in the Clondalkin area to ascertain if any would be suitable for a homeless hostel. When the review is complete a report with be brought to the committee

The DECLG has confirmed funding to South Dublin County Council for the provision of our social housing Capital Projects including social housing build programme to the total value of €64.7m for the period 2015 to 2017.

16 properties for acquisition to date have been advised to the Department for in excess of €3M and other properties are being pursued. Work has started on new build at Suncroft and Belgard and St Finans is due to start shortly. All will be funded by the Capital Programme.

In July the DECLG gave approval in principal to 8 Approved Housing Bodies for 47 Capital Assistance Scheme projects (35 of these relate to acquisitions and 12 relate to construction projects) in the South Dublin area totalling a value of €5.6m. The provision of housing for people with specific categories of need is funded under the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS). Under this scheme all prospective tenancies are taken from the local authority housing waiting list.