AQW 2953/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 07/09/2022
Answered On Date: 12/09/2022
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail any plans to establish a homeless unit within his Department.

Answer:

Homelessness is a cross-cutting issue and tackling it requires collaboration across Government. The Department for Communities has policy responsibility to address homelessness, which is delivered via the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

Those who experience homelessness often have significant and complex health and social care needs. Such is the expansive nature of these needs that the issue cuts across many different areas within the Department of Health (DoH), including Mental Health, Substance Use and Domestic and Sexual Violence. The Mental Health Directorate within DoH currently holds policy responsibility for homelessness from a health perspective, and as such co-ordinates work across the relevant DoH policy areas.