The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government is publishing a report today that calls for a national homeless family strategy that focuses on the needs of children. The Labour Party has been calling for this for some time. My colleague, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, introduced the Housing (Homeless Families) Bill 2017, which passed Second Stage in the House in March 2018. Some 20 months later it has not been enacted. In the Dublin region there are now 3,873 children in homelessness. This is an all-time high. The situation is significantly worse than 20 months ago when Deputy Jan O'Sullivan introduced her Bill. The housing committee will ask today that the best interests of children be taken into account by local authorities when they provide homeless accommodation and other supports. Despite the central importance of the family in the Constitution, when a person becomes homeless his or her situation is individualised and there is no statutory basis for consideration of what is best for a family or for the children in a family. The Labour Party Bill would oblige housing authorities to recognise families as units in homelessness and to have specific regard to the best interests of children.

There are also 936 young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 years who are currently homeless. This is due to the cliff edge that arises for young people as soon as they reach 18 years of age. A young person in care who might be doing very well has all the child supports withdrawn and must navigate the difficult labyrinth of adult services, often going onto a long waiting list. It is wrong to expect young people to be autonomous from the age of 18 years and to be able to house themselves. In addition to dealing with child homelessness, we would prevent a large proportion of the homelessness of young adults if we introduced strong supports for this cohort of young people.

I strongly welcome the report of the Oireachtas committee, which also calls for an independent evaluation of family hubs and more supports for schools with pupils who are homeless. However, on the core issue of recognising the family unit and the individual rights of children, and recall that we had a referendum on that matter, the Labour Party introduced a robust Bill that would make a real difference. We have been waiting 20 months for it to be enacted. Given the findings of the Oireachtas committee, a cross-party group that examined this issue in detail, will the Tánaiste give a commitment on behalf of the Government to a timetable for the speedy enactment into law of the Labour Party's Housing (Homeless Families) Bill 2017?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Two reports are being launched today concerning children and families experiencing homelessness. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs is reporting on the impact of homelessness on children and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government report is on family and child homelessness. The Government welcomes the publication of these reports. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government will examine in detail the content and recommendations of the reports, will liaise with the various Departments and State agencies responsible for the delivery of supports and services to families experiencing homelessness and will respond accordingly.

There are more than 1,700 families in emergency accommodation at present. This is an unacceptable level of family homelessness. However, it is important not to lose sight of the progress being made in dealing with this difficult problem. In the first six months of this year, 2,825 adults and their dependants exited homelessness into sustainable homes. In Dublin, one of every two families that presented to homelessness services in the first nine months of this year was found a home immediately, without a need to enter emergency accommodation. Family presentations to homelessness services have also fallen over the same period by almost 10% compared to last year. In the first nine months of this year, 786 families have exited emergency accommodation into a tenancy in Dublin, which is where the largest numbers are. This is a 48% increase on the 530 exits recorded over the same period last year. Since the start of the Rebuilding Ireland programme in 2016, the annual increase in the number of children in emergency accommodation has dramatically reduced, falling from an annual increase of 54% in the 12 months to September 2016 to an increase of just over 1% in the past 12 months.

This problem is not solved yet, and I do not pretend that it is. The way to solve it is through a dramatic increase in the supply of all types of housing and, in particular, social and affordable housing and affordable rental accommodation. In all those categories there are significant increases in planning permissions, commencements and completions. Next year, it is anticipated that an extra 26,000 to 27,000 new homes will come onto the market in a combination of all categories. That is a multiple of the position only a few years ago.

I share the Deputy's concern. I have visited many of the 29 family hubs, which have a capacity for just under 700 families. Housing families in emergency accommodation such as hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation is not suitable. I gave a commitment many times to move away from that and we have invested tens of millions of euro in tailor-made, emergency facilities for families in family hubs. I encourage Members to visit those family hubs, particularly if they are in their constituencies, to see how they work. They are not perfect or suitable for long-term family accommodation, but they provide emergency accommodation while we address the dramatic housing shortage this country has faced for a number of years.

I thank the Tánaiste for the response. It is a prepared response for a question on the progress being made on housing. I welcome progress being made, but my question is child focused. It picks up on the analysis carried out by the two committees referred to by the Tánaiste. The housing committee has done very good work over the past few years on a number of proposals. However, I ask the Tánaiste to deal with the focus of my question, which is the status of children. The lives of children who are homeless and in those centres are being blighted, and in a way that might take some time to recover from, if ever. The way to deal with that is through the enactment of legislation which gives a right to children. It is a right we held a referendum on and which the people of Ireland enshrined in the Constitution, which is to have a child-centred approach. With regard to the legislation that has passed Second Stage and is to go to Committee Stage, will the Government give a commitment to have it enacted so the focus on the child will be domestic law?

There is already a child focus. When we were designing family hubs we did it with Barnardos and other child specialist NGOs and organisations. When I was Minister with responsibility for housing I worked with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, to ensure that children's services and supports were part of the planning and investment, as well as with other Ministers who are supporting families.

Has the Tánaiste read the reports?

I have not. They were not published before Leaders' Questions started. I will read them, as I am very interested in this area. There will be statements in the House next week on child homelessness. If this legislation makes sense, the Government will support it and if it does not, we will give reasons why we cannot.

It is 20 months.

This is about a number of things, not just passing legislation. If we pass legislation providing for rights, that does not solve the problem overnight. It is about an allocation of resources and ensuring that we can follow through on our commitments to children. Simply passing legislation and expecting that to solve the problem does not necessarily make sense on the ground for families, but perhaps the legislation makes sense. I will have to look at it. However, we will have an opportunity to debate these issues in detail in the House next week.