THE GOVERNMENT will today consider a new five-year strategy to tackle homelessness which envisages a major shift towards the use of private-rented accommodation rather than emergency hostel beds.
A draft version of the plan, obtained by The Irish Times, says the Government hopes to eliminate long-term homelessness by ensuring homeless people are not in emergency accommodation, such as shelters or BBs, for longer than six months.
However, the 50-page strategy does not contain any details on how much funding will be needed, or whether Government money will be ring-fenced to ensure it is implemented.
Already this year the Health Service Authority (HSE) has frozen funding for homeless services at last year's levels, while dozens of new projects which were due to come on-stream have been stalled.
Homeless agencies in Dublin say, despite progress in recent years, they are now turning away dozens of homeless people every night because their emergency beds are full.
However, the draft blueprint, Homelessness - New Strategy, indicates there is a broadly sufficient number of emergency beds in the capital and emphasis needs to be shifted towards longer-term accommodation.
Emergency accommodation also costs at least twice as much as ordinary housing, and can contribute to people becoming caught in a cycle of homelessness, the strategy notes.
It says some emergency accommodation could be converted into longer-term housing, while greater use of private-rented accommodation offers "significant potential" in meeting the needs of homeless people who are capable of independent living.
The strategy suggests that local authorities and homeless agencies should consider using more private-rented accommodation while bearing in mind issues such as access to support services and the need to avoid concentrating vulnerable people in one area.
For more dependent homeless people, the strategy says a range of interventions will be needed to link them into a range of health, social and welfare supports.
It adds that provision of such support services could "provide a level of comfort to landlords and open up more housing options that might be available without them".
The strategy suggests that tenancies in mainstream housing could also be conditional on compliance with a range of support programmes.
The new strategy will replace an existing blueprint which has seen a steady reduction in the number of homeless people in recent years.
Latest official figures indicate there are about 2,400 homeless households in contact with State services, while in excess of 100 people are sleeping rough on the streets of the capital.
