HAIL launches its Annual Report for 2021

By hailadmin
Monday, 29th August 2022
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HAIL, a specialist housing association primarily for people with mental health difficulties, will report today (29.08.22) that in 2021 it delivered mental health tenancy support services for a record 586 people. HAIL will also announce that last year it increased its number of homes to 423 – the highest figure recorded by the organisation.

The figures will be released at the publication of HAIL’s annual report for 2021, which will be officially launched this morning by Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD.

Commenting in advance of the report launch, CEO of HAIL Martina Smith, said: “We are delighted that 2021 represented a year of significant growth for our organisation. HAIL has an important role in the housing sector. We provide exceptional quality housing and support services predominantly to tenants and clients with mental health difficulties but also to general needs tenants.

“We are proud of our success rates in supporting people with mental health difficulties, to integrate and live independent lives in the community. We are ideally positioned to work with the Government, local authorities and the HSE in continuing to address housing challenges for people with mental health difficulties.”

Mental health support services

The housing association provides a range of mental health tenancy support services for its own tenants and to people living in private rented accommodation or local authority housing who have been referred to HAIL.

Speaking about the growth of their support services, Martina Smith, said: “We are pleased that in 2021 we reached our highest number of clients for tenancy support. This means our services are helping more people with mental health difficulties to sustain their tenancies and live independently.

“Tenancy support is key to reducing the risk of hospitalisation or homelessness. People with mental health difficulties are more vulnerable to not being able to sustain their tenancy.

“HAIL’s success rates have been impressive.  Our own supported tenants maintain a high rate of tenancy sustainment – 97% in 2020 and 99% in 2021. The average rate of tenancy sustainment for non-HAIL tenant clients whilst they are actively engaged with our support services is 95%.”

Martina Smith added: “We provide a successful model on how to support people with mental health difficulties sustain their tenancies, live independently and avoid hospitalisation or homelessness. We are engaging with our partners on plans to expand our support services to help reach more people.

“To help us grow, we need adequate sustainable funding for our support services. We also need greater provision of more housing for people with mental health difficulties in all new housing developments.”

Providing homes

In 2021, HAIL increased its number of homes to 423 with properties across Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Offaly, Longford and Limerick. Throughout the year, the housing association delivered 19 new homes and contracted a further 11. HAIL aims to increase its housing stock by 17% by the end of 2023, by delivering a further 70 homes.

Martina Smith, added: “HAIL has a proven track record of successfully managing our properties to support our tenants and the communities they live in. We have set an ambitious target to grow our housing stock by 2023 and beyond. We are keen to explore opportunities with our partners in local authorities and the construction sector to increase supply to help deliver more positive outcomes for our tenants.”