Acquisition Delivery Team has crucial role when eviction ban ends, says homeless charity

Vivienne Clarke

The chief executive of homeless charity De Paul, David Carroll has said the Acquisition Delivery Team will have a crucial role to play in the coordination of emergency services when the eviction ban is lifted shortly.

As part of measures announced on Wednesday in relation to the lifting of the eviction ban, the Department of Housing said it will set up a “Acquisition Delivery Team” to ensure each Local Authority meets its Tenant in situ purchase targets.

Mr Carroll told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the team will have a vital role to play in helping overcome bureaucratic hurdles.

Getting information to tenants and landlords would be crucial, he added. It was important that any schemes introduced to provide accommodation were operated in a fair way.

De Paul currently operates 626 temporary beds all of which are utilised at present, predominantly by single people, explained Mr Carroll. There was a very low turnover of beds because there was so much pressure on finding accommodation.

De Paul was looking at ways to meet the challenge of the demand there will be for emergency accommodation when the ban is lifted.

“There’s a lot of numbers being thrown about. The RTB said it could be up to 7,000. How many of them will translate into actual people presenting for temporary accommodation is uncertain. And that's why I think at this moment in time, there is a huge emphasis for us on what the short term measures that need to be put into place in order to preserve that.

“This is where the announcement of the acquisition delivery team is really important, they will have a coordinating role over how the schemes are going to be rolled out, how the bureaucratic hurdles, for instance, around legal processes, releases of finance and surveys in terms of the institute scheme, for instance, will be negotiated.

"That body will play a critical role in each of the local authorities. We've got a fantastic relationship with the local authorities.

“We're examining ways in which we can use the justice system and the proposals from Government. I think the 1000 leases that Government have promised will be critical. What we would want to happen is that those people eligible within temporary accommodation can be moved on as soon as possible.

"And I think that's future critical in order to be able to act to create room within the existing temporary accommodation system. Obviously, the local authorities and our colleagues as we speak are seeking access and temporary accommodation in hotels and B&Bs.

"I think also as well, there is an existing network of preventative measures that are in place from the local authorities as well in order to be able to offer advice on this. That is such a critical issue. How are the schemes that Government has announced over the last week to ten days is going to be implemented consistently through the local authority, all of them in a uniform way.

“Getting information both to tenants and landlords of what exists is absolutely critical if we're going to prevent people coming into temporary accommodation. The devil will be in the detail of how all of the schemes that have been announced will be implemented. But that needs to be drilled down into and is absolutely critical in order for us to be able to respond.”