€47m paid by Dublin City Council in 2017 to hotels and B&Bs to house homeless people

€47m was paid by Dublin City Council last year to hotels and B&Bs to house homeless people.

The council has put forward new measures aimed at cutting these expenses but they involve ending the practice of prioritising homeless families for social housing.

Instead, those in the private sector getting the Housing Assistance Payment will be given preferential treatment allowing their tenancies to be taken up by families in emergency accommodation.

However, Chair of the Housing Committee, Daithi Doolan, thinks the Housing Assistance Payment is problematic.

"HAP is not the solution; I have serious concerns about HAP," he said.

"HAP is putting people back in the private rental sector where many people...have been homeless, they go into HAP, and they're homeless again.

"I'm certainly not happy with families being forced into accepting HAP tenancies because it's precarious, it's not long-term, there's no security there," he said.

- Digital Desk