Ireland’s ‘Housing First’ National Implementation Plan Launched

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, TD, the Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Public Health, Well Being and the National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan TD, and President of the Irish Council for Social Housing and CEO of Peter McVerry Trust, Pat Doyle launched the Housing First National Implementation Plan for 2022-2026. It will provide 1,319 new supported tenancies for people who are homeless and who have complex additional needs. The new National Homeless Action Committee has been established to drive actions on homelessness and includes all of the key Government Departments, agencies and voluntary organisations dealing with different aspects of homelessness. The group will work to accelerate the delivery of homeless supports and oversee implementation of inter-agency measures committed-to under Housing for All, the Government’s national plan on housing to 2030, published in September. The Housing First programme is one of the key responses in ending long-term homelessness among those with complex health and mental health needs. It provides the most vulnerable of our homeless population with a home for life as well as with key wraparound health and social supports. Under the plan, an additional 1,319 supported tenancies are to be delivered over the next five years. This will ensure that Housing First continues to operate and expand in every county of Ireland. It will involve an average of 264 new tenancies per annum, with the specific annual targets for each region now set out in the plan. These targets are based on analysis of need, which involved key stakeholders and was supported by the Housing Agency. The Housing First Programme has already helped more than 600 long-term homeless individuals into their own homes for life, with wrap-around supports available to them to keep them in those homes. It is now operational in every county in Ireland and has exceeded the targets initially set out in the first National Implementation Plan (2018-2021).