An Bord Pleanála concedes that conversion of hotel to homeless hostel doesn’t require planning permission, after all

An Bord Pleanála has conceded that the operator of a private homeless hostel, the Paramount Hotel in Temple Bar, doesn’t need planning permission to change it from a hotel to a homeless hostel.

This is an about-face from last November, when the board ruled that switching the Paramount from a hotel to a homeless facility was a change of use, and therefore required planning permission.

At that time, the board decided it was a change of use because the provision of accommodation for homeless people “constitutes ‘care’”, and as a hotel the Paramount was a business premises but as short-term homeless accommodation it would not be.

But Ampbay Ltd, which runs the Paramount Hotel, argued that it just provides accommodation, and “no care element is provided”.

And an An Bord Pleanála’s inspector found that “There is no change other than the socio-economic class associated with the inhabitants”, before recommending the board rule that no planning permission was needed – advice it did not take.

If the board’s decision had stood, it would have meant that multiple hostels across the city were in breach of planning law, having been converted from tourist accommodation to homeless accommodation without planning permission.

And that it would be more difficult to convert more hotels or hostels into homeless accommodation in future, as the number of people who are homeless continues to grow.

But Ampbay challenged An Bord Pleanála’s decision in the High Court. And the board has now conceded the point, agreeing that in this case, no planning permission is necessary.

Of course, conversions of buildings into homeless hostels without planning permission have been challenged on a number of different grounds, and this is just one of them.

Private vs charity

In recent years, as the numbers of people who are homeless in Dublin has increased, the council has shifted to relying more on privately run hostels like the Paramount – rather than charity-run ones.

Last year, there were more than 6,070 adults in private hostels and 3,280 adults in supported charity-run accommodation.

In general, there’s more care provided at charity-run hostels, than at privately run ones. But the director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) says she wants to close that gap.

The DRHE director Mary Hayes told TDs and senators on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing Local Government and Heritage last year that support is provided in private hostels through the Private Emergency Accommodation Assertive Case Management Team.

A report to the committee said that team includes NGO staff working with drug users, case managers, clinical team, and specialised case managers working on dual diagnosis – that is people with both addictions and mental illness – as well as domestic violence and other complex cases.

Hayes told the committee that she wants to further ramp up the support available in private hostels.

“The overall strategy is to align standards and service provision within PEA [private emergency accommodation] service to the NGO sector,” she said.

What counts as care?

Mike Allen, director of advocacy with Focus Ireland, a homeless charity, says that while homeless hostels should provide support to people, their primary purpose is to provide accommodation.

The council often contracts rooms for families in hotels and B&Bs – so there is a lot of overlap between the two uses, he says.

In contrast, a care facility is a place where the primary purpose is the provision of care, like a nursing home, he says

The word “care” can have a lot of broad interpretations, he says, but hostels are not care homes.

“Care” is defined in the Planning and Development Act as personal care, including help with physical, intellectual or social needs.

Hostels should provide people with the support they need, says Allen, but the primary purpose of emergency accommodation is to provide accommodation, he says. “The funding is provided primarily for accommodation.”

However, former council planner Kieran Rose says a hotel is not the same use as a homeless facility, in his view.

“Homeless accommodation should be a care facility,” he says. “That is its purpose.”

It is important that the council is able to open enough accommodation for homeless people, he says.

But the council often opens up these facilities in disadvantaged areas where they are less likely to meet legal challenges, Rose says. “They should go through the planning process.”