Plan to overhaul homeless services

NEW plans to overhaul homeless services in Dublin were announced yesterday, using surplus housing stock to provide 1,000 additional tenancies by the end of this year.

The new initiative was unveiled by the Department of the Environment and the Homeless Agency, and assisting in the rolling out of the Pathway to Home project.

The Homeless Agency Partnership – which is coordinating efforts to eliminate long-term homelessness in the capital – has set a target of 1,000 tenancies to be provided by the end of this year through the leasing agreement with the department, local authorities and the reconfiguration of existing resources.

The new Support to Live Independently (SLI) scheme is aimed at allowing a successful transition into mainstream housing for people who have endured homelessness for some time.

It will target people with low to medium support needs. Housing Minister John Finneran said the scheme will get under way immediately in Dublin with about 50 homeless households already identified as able to move quickly into mainstream housing.

He said assessment of the support requirements of further residents would also begin immediately, targeting the completion of 75 assessments over the course of the next month.

The scheme will then be stepped up in the coming months, with a target of 300 mainstream social housing allocations for homeless people agreed, with another 300 targeted under the new SLI scheme.

Some homeless outreach services will also be amalgamated, and a rigorous system for managing private emergency accommodation introduced to help free up resources.

The Government has been criticised in the past for its failure to provide adequate resources to achieve its goal of ending long-term homelessness by the end of next year.

Now, however, accommodation for the SLI scheme will be sourced through the social housing leasing scheme or from available unsold affordable housing, including any future accommodation from both sources.

The Homeless Agency Partnership said the new programme would help achieve the aims of the Pathway to Home model, providing services to prevent homelessness, providing temporary accommodation, and housing with supports.