LANDLORDS providing beds for homeless people in guesthouses and B&Bs are making upwards of €600,000 a year offering overnight emergency accommodation.

In the first eight months of this year, Dublin City Council has paid out more than €11m to the owners of dozens of properties around the capital.

During the past three years, more than €41m has been spent on such services while dozens of City Council housing units remain vacant.

In 2006, the Public Acc-ounts Committee found that 2,600 properties belonging to Dublin City Council lay completely idle, despite the extensive spending on emergency accommodation. Another €5.7m is expected to be spent by year end as demand for homeless shelter grows in the run-up to Christmas.

Housing the homeless has proved very lucrative for some landlords, who are obliged to provide a minimum standard of accommodation for residents. Dublin City Council has refused to disclose the identities of those who have profited from providing emergency accommodation, instead providing a breakdown of how much was paid to unnamed individuals.

One property owner in Dublin 8 was paid €617,051 for the use of two adjoining properties, which are used for housing homeless people. He has made more than €1.66m since 2006, the Sunday Tribune has learned.

Another landlord in Dublin 7 was given €565,750 for the use of his three neighbouring houses, Dublin City Council said. He has earned close to €1.5m over the past three years offering emergency homeless services.

It is thought that some of the landlords own multiple properties and may be making more than €1m each year from housing the homeless.

The scale of the expenditure has attracted the scrutiny of the Department of the Environment, who have asked for these services to be kept under continual review.

A letter sent from Denis Conlan in the Dept of the Environment to Ciaran McNamara, Dublin City Council's Assistant City Manager, asked for close watch to be kept on the amounts paid out to private landlords.

The correspondence, obtained by the Sunday Tribune, says: "Attention is drawn to the need to maximise effectiveness and minimise cost (especially with regard to the significant level of expenditure on B&B accommodation) while ensuring the adequacy of services to address needs.