merrion street

Housing and Planning Minister Jan O’Sullivan today announced an additional €10m in housing capital funding for people with a disability.

Minister O’Sullivan said:

The housing needs of people with a disability are a priority. Ensuring that people with a disability have good quality accommodation, suitable to their needs, is essential to ensure that people can play a full, active role in the community. Together with Minister Kathleen Lynch I have published an implementation framework for the National Housing Strategy for People with Disabilities and this funding announcement is a sign of my commitment to that important policy.

Through the active management of my Department’s capital allocation for 2013 I am now in a position to allocate an additional €10m to provide homes for people with a disability. Local authorities have been asked to submit funding proposals and that process will be completed over the next two weeks. I expect that this funding boost will provide approximately 80-90 new homes this year.

This funding will make a real difference for many people with a disability. It is just one of a number of initiatives in the housing area that are delivering for this community such as:

• Strong focus on homes for people with a disability in the €100m capital funding envelope that runs from 2012-2014. 800 new homes will be delivered in total through this funding.

• Working with Minister Kathleen Lynch, €1m is ring-fenced in 2013 to support a revenue-funded approach to the delivery of additional housing units for people leaving congregated settings

• Publication of the Implementation Framework for the National Housing Strategy for People with Disabilities in conjunction with Minister Lynch.