A GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL to restrict access to emergency accommodation for people who cannot demonstrate that they are habitually resident in Ireland has been sharply criticised by organisations working with people experiencing homelessness.

Wayne Stanley, executive director of the Simon Communities, said the proposal would put people affected by the measure at risk of ending up on the street.

The proposal – first reported by the Dublin Inquirer newspaper – would see the government introduce amendments to the 1988 Housing Act that create a habitual residence requirement for emergency accommodation, in line with the criteria currently in place for accessing social housing and supports such as Housing Assistance Payment (HAP).

A Department of Housing consultation document on the matter, circulated to a number of organisations within the Department’s National Homeless Action Committee, states that the people who will “no longer have an entitlement to homeless emergency accommodation support from housing authorities” are likely to be “people who are either unlawfully in the country or may have just arrived from another EU country and/or do not meet the definition of a worker in EU law after three months residency”.

The Department proposes to create a parallel sytem to provide “humanitarian assistance in appropriate cases to ensure that no person is left without shelter”.

Stanley noted that no detail was given on who would staff this alternative system or what skills they would have.

Stanley said in practice the number of people who do not meet the habitual residency criteria is small and most would come from the EU – including people who have moved here but have been unable to find work, or who had work but lost it.

He also gave an example of a man whose case he worked on whose former employer had not registered the employment or paid PRSI, making it very difficult for him to demonstrate habitual residency.

“What we find is often they do have right to remain but they need to build the case in terms of showing the length of time they were here, their work record – it isn’t always straightforward proving it.

“They have to start all that process, and often loss of employment is the cause of the loss of the home,” he added.

The consultation document states that the proposal originated with county and city managers at local authorities. The County and City Management Association has been approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication. 

It is understood that local authorities feel under pressure to move people in emergency accommodation to more permanent accommodation. However, it is difficult for them to do so in the case of people who cannot demonstrate habitual residency in Ireland and who therfore cannot avail of HAP, the private rental subsidy.

The Department consultation states that “many of those in emergency accommodation do not have a housing pathway”, including people who have moved here from outside the European Economic Area (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), and those from within the EEA  who do not meet the eligibility criteria for social housing. 

In its submission to the Department on the matter, the Simon Communities said the Department should put mechanisms in place to deal with the small number of people in these circumstances, for instance by training staff in local authorities to better support them.

Stanley said state guidelines on how to meet the criteria for habitual residency when accessing social welfare were “constantly changing” and many decisions ended up being appealed.

“If they get it wrong, someone could end up on the street,” he said.