The government’s New Housing Plan for Ireland’ contains a commitment that Local Authorities will agree to draw up and implement a ‘national spatial distribution’ key for the accommodation of 2,900 refugees under phase 2 of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme 2020-2023.
The Housing for All plan commits to have the local authority distribution key in place before the end of December this year.
The new Housing Plan further notes that the commitment to accommodate the 2,900 refugees comes after local authorities already played a central role in the successful first round (phase 1) of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, when 2,871 persons were accommodated across 23 counties.
Under the Housing for All plan, it is envisaged that Local Authorities and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) will also source and provide accommodation, as well as offering support for the integration of refugees and their families into local communities.
To date, total funding of €770,000 has been made available for the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) to develop several Regional Support Organisations (RSOs) whose role is to further develop the Government’s Community Sponsorship programme.
The IRPP began in 2015 as part of Ireland’s response to the migration crisis in central and southern Europe.
Under this programme, the Government committed to accept up to 4,000 people into the State, through a combination of the European Union Relocation Programme and the UNHCR-led Refugee Resettlement Programme.
The details of the latest commitments are contained in Pathway 2 of the Housing Plan for All Eradicating Homelessness, titled Increasing Social Housing Delivery and Supporting Social Inclusion.