Housing Executive to hold homelessness meeting in Derry

The Housing Executive will host the meeting as part of public consultation on its new Chronic Homelessness Action Plan.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 19 at the White Horse Hotel from 9.30am to 1.30pm and is one of only three scheduled to take place across Northern Ireland.

Colm McQuillan, HE Director of Housing Services, said: “This is the first action plan of its type across the UK, and seeks to address the wider issue of chronic homelessness rather than only focusing on the specific issue of rough sleeping. Over the last number of years, the number of households presenting as homeless to us has remained broadly static. However, many of those presenting to us as homeless are dealing with much more complex issues.

“We define Chronic Homelessness as a group of individuals with very pronounced and complex support needs who find it difficult to exit from homelessness. The action plan sets out what we intend to do, with the support of our partners in the statutory, voluntary and community sectors, over the next three years.”

The Plan forms part of its Ending Homelessness Together strategy, which runs until 2022. “This consultation process proves that we’re listening and responding to the views of the homelessness sector, that more needed to be done,” Mr McQuillan said.

People can also give their views online at www.nihe.gov.uk/Working-With-Us/Partners/Consultations from now until August 2, 2019.