A councillor has said that Westmeath County Council will “endeavour to get their money back” and won’t lose out on money from any overspend on combating homelessness.
Cllr Michael Dollard spoke after government figures released an End of Year Homelessness Financial Report for 2023, which saw Westmeath County Council overspend by 80% from the initial budgets.
Overall, Westmeath County Council saw an overall spend of €2,071,558 in 2023 to deal with the issue of homelessness, with initial budgets only being slightly over €1.16 million.
Key areas of overspend include unscheduled emergency accommodation, including commercial hotels and B&Bs, which saw an expenditure of €1,284,363 compared to the initial budget of €550,000.
Furthermore, emergency accommodation for single-users at Athlone Emergency Accommodation Facility cost the council €252,799 instead of the €103,000 budgeted.
Spending in Westmeath was considerably higher than other counties mentioned in the Midlands region of the end of year financial report. Offaly had spending of €1,627,567, whereas both Laois and Longford saw expenditure of under €890,000.
“It just goes to shows you how proactive the council are”
When asked about the figures, Cllr Dollard, who is the Westmeath representative of the Midlands Region Homeless Forum, and is also involved with TEAM (Temporary Emergency Accommodation Midlands), said that the figures shouldn’t be seen as worrisome.
According to government figures dated from March 2024, there were 60 adults in Westmeath accessing emergency accommodation, compared to 43 in Offaly, 28 in Laois and 17 in Longford.
Cllr Dollard stated: “It is a combination of two things. It is a budgetary expenditure from council’s own resources and funding it received from central government, but most of the funding for homelessness comes from central government.
“No. They won’t (lose out on money). It just goes to show you how proactive the council are in drawing down funding for homelessness, because it is a huge issue.”
“Where there is an overspend, the council will endeavour to get their money back from central government.”
