Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Prepared by an independent Expert Group on behalf of the Minister of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

This report sets out an integrated set of recommendations intended to improve the effectiveness of the arrangements for providing accommodation for members of the Traveller community, which were established by the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998. These recommendations address four key themes: - delivery reflecting need, - planning, - capacity and resources and, - governance. The review concludes that the arrangements established by the 1998 Act have significant strengths and have enabled the delivery of significant amounts of accommodation for Travellers, but they have failed to meet the full scale of accommodation need among this community. This is evidenced by the extremely high rate of Traveller homelessness, the increase in numbers of Traveller households sharing accommodation and living in overcrowded conditions, and the uneven record of delivery of Traveller-specific accommodation among local authorities and also approved housing bodies. Therefore, it is time to overhaul the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998 and other relevant legislation and policies which impact on accommodation provision for Travellers.