COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 08, 2014

QUESTION NO. 1

QUESTION: Councillor M. Duff

To ask the Chief Executive to make a report regarding the steps this Council is taking in the context of the Cold Weather Initiative and to detail what facilities, if any, are available for people sleeping rough in the Tallaght area. Could he also indicate if he has considered the situation whereby community volunteers are providing hot drinks and sandwiches, out of their own resources, in the Tallaght Village area to people who are sleeping rough and to provide the details of any talks he has held with the Voluntary sector, such as Focus Ireland, around providing a coordinated "out of hours" service to people who are in this unfortunate situation?

REPLY:

The annual Cold Weather Initiative has been in place since1 November 2014 and it will run until the end of March 2014. It provides an emergency humanitarian response to the needs of persons who may be sleeping rough during cold weather. It provides dedicated additional beds to the existing number of beds available on a nightly basis in the Dublin region. 

The Initiative aims to support individuals, who may not access the current range of services including persons who tend not to engage with homeless accommodation providers or day services or persons who may be ineligible in terms of social welfare benefits and find themselves in very vulnerable situations without accommodation.

There are up to 150 additional regional beds provided during the 5 months of this service.

The Council has provided a supported temporary accommodation facility in the Tallaght area for people sleeping rough in South Dublin. It caters for 21 individuals at any one time. In an effort to increase the number of beds available for those sleeping rough the Council has recently made 4 x 2 bed apartments available as move on for those in the facility who are considered capable of independent living. It is envisaged that these units will cater for 8 persons to move on and live independently with supports

The recent emergence of community volunteers providing soup and sandwiches from a number of locations around the county is not one that this council can support from a safety perspective. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive has introduced a new on-street service, which combines street outreach and Housing First has been in place since October 1st 2014. The service provides two teams:

Intake Team - If a person is sleeping rough and needs accommodation and support or if they are interested in referring to Housing First

Intensive Case Management (ICM) Team – If a person is already a Housing First tenant

Housing First focuses on providing long-term tenancies for those who have been long-term rough sleeping with the provision of time unlimited wrap around support services to assist them in maintaining their tenancy. This service has been contacted and is now working with the rough sleepers in the County.  In addition discussions are on going with Focus Ireland who provide a drop in and advice centre in Tallaght to extend their service to provide additional hot drinks and sandwiches.