Support to leave homelessness

Commitment sought: People moving out of homelessness will be given greater support

Few people choose to live in isolation; most people want to live with or close to family and friends - people to talk to and to support them. The need for support can be even stronger for people who have been homeless. For some, the loneliness of living by themselves can be the biggest risk to holding onto their new home. Others require different forms of support, such as housing support; help connecting to the local community, or into local services; health and social-care support. Some people who are homeless have a range of needs also known as complex needs including physical and mental health issues, problem drug and alchol use, fractured social and family relationships.

At present, there is no dedicated funding stream to provide such support, and ensure people who have moved out of homelessness can keep their new homes.

At present local authorities are responsible for meeting the physical cost of housing people who are homeless, and the Health Service Executive (HSE) is responsible for meeting people's care costs. However, this applies to people living in designated 'homeless' accommodation. Supporting someone who is no longer homeless because they have a secure tenancy in suitable accommodation is less straightforward.

Local authorities are empowered to pay for 'settlement services'. This is usually designated as the initial period of transition to new accommodation, when a person requires practical support in getting the housing, negotiating with a landlord, home-making and money management skills.
The current Government's homelessness strategy, The Way Home, acknowledges that many people willl need on-going support, to move out of homelessness.

The MakeRoom campaign calls for the following actions:

• introduce a dedicated revenue stream for housing with supports
• place clear legislative responsibility on local authorities to meet people's housing needs, and a legislative responsibility on the HSE to meet people's care or support costs
• fully integrate people who have been homeless into the primary care teams operating in their communities, with increased investment in community supports
• ensure access to drug and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation services for people who have been or are currently homeless
• expand tenancy sustainment services outside of Dublin.