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Keeping homeless figures down will be 'very difficult', says housing minister
Avoiding crossing the threshold of 5,000 children living in emergency accommodation will be "very difficult", the housing minister has admitted.
The latest figures show that 4,844 children were in emergency accommodation in May — the highest number ever recorded in Ireland.
James Browne said that it is going to be "very difficult to prevent a crossing of that 5,000 considering how close we are".
As the number of homeless people continues to rise each month, Mr Browne denied that a move to limit access to social housing to non-habitual residents is an attempt to improve optics.
Under the legislation, those who are not habitually resident in Ireland and who do not have the right to remain, will not be able to access homeless supports.
According to the homelessness figures for May, just 51% of those in emergency accommodation are Irish citizens with non-EEA residents accounting for 3,031 people.
Groups such as the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) previously raised concerns that the legislation would disproportionately impact migrants and ethnic minority communities.
Mr Browne said an individual's immigrant status is not relevant to the matter, saying: "We are talking about people who might arrive in the country, who have not been working here, who have not been living here and then seek social housing supports."
The move to legislate to provide legal and habitual residency as eligibility criteria to access social housing, which was first raised last year, would regularise what already exists on an administrative basis, said Mr Browne.
It is the "right thing to do" and would match current rules for social protection, he continued.
The minister was speaking as details were released showing that 17 local authorities failed to reach their targets on social housing delivery between 2022 and 2024.
Minister of State for local government and planning John Cummins said it is clear which authorities are performing and which are not.
"Some have a can-do attitude, think outside the box, have a clear vision and, to be honest, some don't have those attributes," said Mr Cummins, adding that the system can only move as fast as the slowest cog.
However, when it comes to those local authorities that are under performing, Mr Browne said he would not favour introducing penalties.
When you penalise what is effectively a social service, it is the customers who will end up suffering and not those in charge, he said.
A reward system is being explored for those who are delivering, potentially around the discretionary funding that councillors have available to them as is done in Britain and other countries, Mr Browne said.
Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin called the Council League Table on social housing delivery a "cheap gimmick" designed to deflect from the Government's failures.
"Government knows that due to their own failures the 2025 social and affordable housing targets cannot be met and are now setting the local authorities up to take the blame come the year's end," said Mr Ó Broin.
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