MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, March 09, 2015
QUESTION NO. 28
QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons
Given the announcement by Alan Kelly Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government that the Target to end homelessness by 2016 I want to ask the Chief Executive for a report how SDCC will ensure this happens and what plans are in place to deal with this growing issue? also how much has the ministers department given to tackle the issue to SDCC and how much has central government provided SDCC to build Housing?
REPLY:
Homeless Services for Dublin are delivered on a regional basis and are funded through DECLG, HSE and the four Local Authorities.
South Dublin County Council’s 2015 Annual Service Plan for Housing Services will provide for
South Dublin County Council operate 2 daily drop-in clinics for those homeless or at risk of homelessness from 10am to 12noon and 2pm to 4pm Monday to Friday and offers the following services:
In addition the annual Cold Weather Initiative has been in place since 1st November 2014 and it will run until the end of March 2014. It provides an emergency humanitarian response to the needs of persons who may be sleeping rough during cold weather. It provides dedicated additional beds to the existing number of beds available on a nightly basis in the Dublin region.
The Initiative aims to support individuals, who may not access the current range of services including persons who tend not to engage with homeless accommodation providers or day services or persons who may be ineligible in terms of social welfare benefits and find themselves in very vulnerable situations without accommodation.
There are up to 260 additional beds provided during the 5 months of this service on a regional basis.
The Council has a supported temporary accommodation facility in the Tallaght area for people sleeping rough in South Dublin. It caters for 21 individuals at any one time. In an effort to increase the number of beds available for those sleeping rough the Council has recently made 4 x 2 bed apartments available as move on for those in the facility who are considered capable of independent living. It is envisaged that these units will cater for 8 persons to move on and live independently with supports
The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive has introduced a new on-street service, which combines street outreach and Housing First has been in place since October 1st 2014. The service provides two teams:
Intake Team – If a person is sleeping rough and needs accommodation and support or if they are interested in referring to Housing First
Intensive Case Management (ICM) Team – If a person is already a Housing First tenant
Housing First focuses on providing long-term tenancies for those who have been long-term rough sleeping with the provision of time unlimited wrap around support services to assist them in maintaining their tenancy. This service has been contacted and is now working with the rough sleepers in the County. In addition discussions are ongoing with Focus Ireland who provide a drop in and advice centre in Tallaght to extend their service to provide additional hot drinks and sandwiches.
The Council expects to get it’s allocation for capital projects for 2015 from the Departmernt of Environment and Local Government this month. The Council aims to deliver housing through a combination of schemes that include RAS, Leasing, HAP, CAS, Construction Programme and Public Private Partnerships
