COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 14, 2014

QUESTION NO. 2

QUESTION: Councillor M. Devine

To ask the Manager can the Members be informed of the numbers seeking assistance from the Homeless Unit and that the costs of hotel accommodation be included in this response?

REPLY:

The following tables set out the numbers seeking assistance from the Homeless Services Unit:

Q1 2014 -   Presentations to Daily Homeless Services Clinics

	Jan	Feb	Mar
Total No. of Presentations	345	371	346
Unique Individuals	157	169	166
No. of New Presentations	80	66	73
No. of Repeats Presentations	77	103	93
Q1 2014 - Average Daily Presentations to the Homeless Services Unit
	Jan	Feb	Mar
Daily Presentations (Avg)	15.6	18.5	17.3
Daily New Presentations (Avg)	3.5	3.3	3.65

The Council has allocated accommodation to 42 people of the Homeless list in the first quarter of 2014.

The cost of hotel accommodation used for emergency purposes is calculated and paid on a regional basis through Dublin City Council as the lead authority.  The cost for South Dublin County alone is not available. There are currently 37 families accommodated in hotel accommodation. It should be noted that due a serious shortage of family emergency accommodation in the Dublin region, this Council has had no option but to increase the use of commercial hotels in order to accommodate families on a temporary basis.  South Dublin County Council is experiencing an increase in the number of families presenting to Homeless Services Unit as a direct result of increasing private market rental prices; lack of private rented accommodation accepting rent supplement and current rent supplement caps.

The matter of use of Hotel accommodation is a concern and a number of alternatives are being investigated as a matter of urgency on a regional basis by the Dublin Regional Homeless Agency on behalf of the 4 local authorities .