Accommodation and Living Conditions Programme
Clare Traveller CDC
Understanding Needs
Building the capacity for Self-assessment of needs
Long-term and future-oriented solutions
Monitoring of living conditions
Support and Advocacy
Individual and family supports (especially in crisis)
Strengthening tenant voices
Group representation
Influence
Networking and Collaboration
Strengthening the collective voice
Highlighting the challenges and promoting solutions
| Activities | Allies and Partners | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Understanding Needs |
• Self-assessment of Needs • Future-oriented Strategy • Monitoring Conditions |
• Training outreach workers • County-wide assessment • Future-oriented Strategy |
• Clare County Council • Cena AHB • ETB |
| Support and Advocacy |
• Family Supports • Strong Tenant Voices • Group Representation |
• Community outreach • Tenant training • Homelessness Response |
• Clare County Council • Clare PPN • HSE |
| Activities Influence |
• Networking • Collective Action • Promoting Solutions |
• Regional project links • Accommodation Action Group • Building Community Relations |
• National Traveller Orgs • Clare LDC • Local & national media |
The foundation for the accommodation programme will be built around the strengthening of Traveller capacity to assess their own accommodation needs, to define what is ‘Traveller-appropriate’ accommodation, to represent their own interests, to collaborate with service providers and to manage their own living spaces.
The starting point for this will be a county-wide Traveller-led accommodation needs assessment – with a considerable investment in training so that outcomes (and resultant strategy) are the result of Traveller-to-Traveller engagement. We will work to establish and support an Accommodation Action Group – representative of Travellers in different parts of the county.
Outcomes of Accommodation Programme
We are aiming, over the three-year period of this strategic plan, to have achieved:
• Most importantly, confidence in a vision for Traveller accommodation that is achievable and sustainable.
• A detailed home-by-home assessment of accommodation needs for all Travellers in Clare (informed by in-depth engagement with families and allowing for future needs based on projected new family formation)
• A realisation (among policy makers, service providers and Irish society generally) that providing Traveller appropriate accommodation, based on Traveller-identified needs, has many more benefits than costs.
• A strengthened capacity of Traveller families to identify their own accommodation needs, to ‘future-proof’ these needs, and to represent themselves as residents.
• A focus on solutions to accommodation needs that are Traveller-specific and that are sustainable in the long term.
• Inclusion of these solutions in a meaningful local authority-led Traveller Accommodation
Programme.
At the same time, the project will continue to deal with day-to-day requests for help in accommodation (we anticipate that needs and demand will remain critical in the continuing accommodation crisis for Travellers). But we also know that there are no solutions to this that are not based on an understanding of causes, and are not driven by a longer term vision of a better future.
Strategic Plan 2023
Download our Strategic Plan for more information
CLARE TRAVELLER CDP VISION STATEMENT
“Our aim is to improve living conditions, opportunities and achievement of human rights for Travellers in Clare. This will be pursued through establishing and strengthening local alliances and, most importantly, through building effective Traveller leadership and a strong Traveller voice”