Fair Deal scheme overhaul could cut costs associated with housing homeless

New proposals from TD Willie O'Dea also suggest having elderly people in full-time care allow their homes to be used to house homeless families.

Under the proposed bill, Mr O’Dea says people who enter nursing homes, or their families, would register with an approved housing body who would then under a licence agreement use that home to house a homeless family.

Elderly people who have to enter full-time residential care could allow their homes be used to house homeless families, under new laws to be debated in the Dáil.

In proposed reforms to the Fair Deal scheme, the bill being proposed by Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea aims at reducing costs associated with homelessness as well as providing more suitable accommodation for those who need it.