1887. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his Department's definition of "emergency" for PEA and TEA. [62763/26]

1894. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his Department's definition of "temporary" for PEA and TEA. [62764/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1887 and 1894 together.

My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at a local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless accommodation and related services rests with individual local authorities.

Under the Housing Act 1988 it is a matter for each local authority to determine whether a person is regarded as homeless and section 2 of the Act sets out the requirements in this regard. When a household has been assessed as homeless, section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 provides that a local authority may provide accommodation and related services to that household.

The Housing Act 1988 does not contain a statutory definition of 'emergency accommodation'. The Act defines a 'homeless person' in section 2 and empowers housing authorities under section 10 to provide or arrange accommodation for homeless persons. The term "emergency accommodation" is used in administrative and policy contexts to describe accommodation provided under statutory functions to those assessed as homeless.

For reporting purposes, the following definitions are used in the Monthly Homelessness Reports, which are published by my Department:

PEA - Private Emergency Accommodation: include hotels, B&Bs and other residential facilities that are used on an emergency basis. Supports are provided to services users on a visiting supports basis.

STA - Supported Temporary Accommodation: accommodation, including family hubs, hostels, with onsite professional support.

TEA - Temporary Emergency Accommodation: emergency accommodation with no (or minimal) support.

These reports are available at https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/#homelessness-data.