Corporation looks for housing for `crisis' in indigenous homeless

Dublin Corporation expects to place further advertisements for landlords in an effort to address an emergency accommodation "crisis". It may also begin advertising for landlords to provide long-term accommodation, said Mr Brendan Kenny, principal officer at the corporation's community services unit.

His staff would "wait and see" what response they got to advertisements in national newspapers yesterday, but "we may well have to advertise again". The advertisement headed "Landlords Required", says: "Dublin Corporation is seeking to compile a portfolio of suitable accommodation which could be used to accommodate persons in emergency need of housing." It urges owners of hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs, apartments or houses to contact Mr Kenny, stressing that a system of "direct rental payments to landlords" would apply.

A similar advertising campaign was run two years ago, which Mr Kenny said was "quite successful". "It will be interesting to see what level of response we get this time round. In the past there was no difficulty in getting landlords, but with the property situation the way it is, more and more we are finding it difficult to get bed spaces. Landlords tend to be more attracted to the private rental market. The bottom line is they feel they can make more money there," Mr Kenny said.

Landlords who deal directly with the corporation, however, are attracted to the fact that rent is paid on time and up front, he said. He could not give a figure for how much the corporation pays landlords, but said most were "amenable to charging a little less than the going rate" as they were guaranteed the rent on time. The corporation has an arrangement with 22 landlords involving 37 properties with 500 emergency beds. All of these were occupied, said Mr Kenny. Asked how many landlords his unit needed to recruit to its portfolio, he answered, "As many as possible."

It was difficult to say how many people were in need of emergency accommodation in Dublin city, though the most recent estimate was 2,900 "homeless" households.

"And there is no doubt that this is increasing," Mr Kenny said. The increase in applications was not from asylum-seekers, he added, but from "the indigenous homeless" population.

Depending on the success of the campaign, Mr Kenny said the corporation would "consider" running advertisements seeking long-term lets for its housing needs.

The local authority sources housing for the indigenous homeless while the Department of Justice performs that role for homeless asylum-seekers. Rent or room-rates in all cases are paid by the relevant health board.

Accommodation sourced by the corporation is inspected regularly for compliance with basic accommodation and fire-safety standards.