Housing policy change criticised by campaigners

The decision to end the “single most successful measure” to help house homeless families was based on a deeply flawed report, according to housing campaigners.

The unpublished Housing Agency report, compiled in April this year and seen by The Irish Times, is an assessment of a policy to allocate 50 per cent of social housing to homeless and other vulnerable households.

The policy followed a directive from the then minister for the environment, Alan Kelly, in January 2015, in response to the growing number of homeless families. Initially intended for six months, it was renewed twice, but lapsed on April 30th – the month the report was completed.

The directive to prioritise homeless and other households, such as those with special medical needs, was unpopular with local authorities, who saw it as an intrusion into local housing policy, and with councillors, who saw it as disruptive to long-standing housing allocation protocols.

Prioritised

While the most vulnerable households were prioritised, this came at the expense of other households on the waiting list.

The directive was successful in moving 221 families – of 252 who were eligible under the protocol – out of homelessness.

The number of homeless households who were housed increased by 15 per cent to about 30 per cent in 2014 and again in 2015.

The report acknowledges the increased allocation to homeless households, but says: “The evidence suggests the established procedures operated by the local authorities were capable of responding to a change in the composition of housing need prior to the ministerial direction.”

It continues: “Due to the current constraints on housing supply, extending the ministerial direction for a further period has the potential to result in vulnerable groups being clustered in a concentrated area.”

The directive “came at a cost to other households on the waiting list” and was a “disruption to the standard allocation procedures”, while there was “emerging evidence” that it could have “contributed to the expectation that a household presenting as homeless will receive secure tenure housing from the State”.

Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin TD said the report did not “contain any data to back up its conclusions . . . yet makes a recommendation that will result in homeless families spending longer periods in emergency accommodation.”

Mike Allen, director of advocacy with Focus Ireland, said he had to "strongly criticise the quality" of the report. It was "below the par expected from the Housing Agency".

“This is not a small matter. This directive was the single most successful measure taken by the previous government to help families and individuals to move out of homelessness.”

A spokesman said as the report was unpublished the Housing Agency would not comment on it.