Minister Darragh O’Brien also said that the Government is looking to accelerate social housing for Ireland’s homeless population to provide emergency accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.
Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has said that the Government will consider a payment to families who house Ukrainian refugees in Ireland.
O’Brien also said that the Government is working on placing Ireland’s homeless accommodation into social housing, so as to provide emergency accommodation for Ukrainian refugees entering the country.
The Minister for Housing made the comments on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday (12 April).
LISTEN: @MorningIreland interview with Minister for Housing @DarraghOBrienTD on plans to house those fleeing the war in Ukraine | Follow more updates on the conflict: https://t.co/Qpz21n2BtP https://t.co/QVYWookjfr
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 12, 2022
O’Brien said that “no option was off the table” when looking to provide accommodation for refugees.
Around 500 Ukrainian refugees on average have arrived in Ireland every day.
O’Brien said that around 500 properties have been identified by local authorities as potential housing for refugees arriving in Ireland.
“We’ve been pretty successful at bringing back vacant social homes,” O’Brien said.
“We’ve brought back in over 6,000 in around two years back to use, and again, putting forward a programme on voids that will be identified at our own homeless list that are there to expedite exits from homelessness to free up further emergency accommodation.”
O’Brien said that the expedited voids list would be focused on providing homeless for the Irish homeless list, and that refugees would not receive housing that’s been reallocated from another family.
O’Brien also confirmed that the Government is considering providing payments for families who provide housing to Ukrainian refugees, including people who provide holiday homes.
Lorcan Sirr, a Senior Lecturer in Housing at Technological University Dublin described vacant holiday homes as “low-hanging fruit” for potential accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.
“The immediate solution is holiday homes, unoccupied holiday homes around the country,” Sirr said.
“We’ve about 62,000 holiday homes spread around the country, including 1,000 in Dublin city, that are unoccupied for most of the year.
“They already meet the standards for accommodation for the equivalent in the rental sector.
“Now, a lot of those holiday homes are in dispersed locations, without a doubt, but there’s a huge amount of holiday homes in congregated settings particularly at the edges of towns and villages, and to me, that’s the low-hanging fruit.”
Sirr recommended a payment of around €300-€400 a month as an incentive for homeowners to pledge their homes.
The discussion around what kind of payment would be provided to families hosting refugees has yet to come to Cabinet.
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