A co-ordinated system is to be put in place in Cork to address the needs of the homeless, with representatives from Cork Corporation, Cork County Council, the Southern Health Board and the voluntary bodies.
The four-year strategy will provide long-term housing for the homeless and the development of an after-hours service. Early intervention in rent-arrears cases and tenancy loss will also be a priority under the scheme.
The local authority will assume responsibility for the payment of all costs associated with accommodation incurred by the voluntary agencies, including maintenance and electricity.
A Labour Party councillor, Kathleen Lynch, said it was essential that the plan provided for a homeless person's long term needs rather than just the short term solution of giving a person a bed for the night.
"It is not just the crisis issue of beds but a case of re-socialising people. There are so many issues to consider," Cllr Lynch said. "How do you get people to live independently again? How do you deal with a person's health problems when they are not at a permanent address? It really just isn't a straightforward case of putting a roof over someone's head." The new strategy on homelessness in Cork is part of an integrated strategy announced by the Government last year. A spokesman for the Southern Health Board said the new strategy would provide guidance for homeless people.
"People who are homeless have difficulty in accessing mainstream services. There are gaps in provision and no clear pathways out of homelessness. The plan will work to ensure that every person who becomes homeless will have access to a suite of services which will address all their needs in an integrated way," the spokesman said.
The director of Cork Simon Community, Ms Patricia McAllister, said the provision of a shelter would help people get back on the road to independent living. Homeless people in Cork were not very vocal about their rights.
"Homeless people really don't have any expectations of the system," she said. "So it is amazing to see the transformation in people when they go to a shelter."
The new strategy was a positive move because it recognised that homelessness was a problem that needed to be handled by statutory agencies rather than just being the work of the voluntary sector.
Meanwhile, it was important to examine the issue of homelessness among families in Cork. She said the current system split families up and called for the development of new accommodation to remedy the problem.
Through its partnership with voluntary providers, the Southern Health Board supports three areas of sheltered accommodation for homeless girls in Cork. Edel House, Riverview and Wellsprings provide 18 beds.
The SHB has also taken over the development of an emergency shelter for teenage boys. This will provide seven emergency beds for adolescents.
Social workers in the SHB are currently dealing with a caseload of up to 40 adolescents.