The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly T.D., has today (5th September 2014) announced the allocation of €23 million capital funding to 31 City and County Councils to undertake very important improvement works to social houses.
€8 million will be provided to local authorities for adaptations and extensions to social houses to meet needs of tenants with a disability or to address serious overcrowding.
Under the Social Housing Investment Programme, local authorities use suitable vacant stock to meet particular needs, however there are also situations where there is no option other than adapting or extending an existing dwelling.
The Minister has assessed the requirements for such works with each local authority and announced allocations per authority based on the level of need identified. The allocations to each local authority are at Appendix A.
In announcing this €8 million allocation, the Minister stated: “While the local authority social housing stock provides homes to almost 130,000 families, as people age their needs change. Some people require adaptations and extensions to their homes in order to continue to live independently. I’m allocating €8m this year for these necessary adaptations and extensions and I’m confident that over 300 families will have an improvement to their quality of life as a result of this investment”.
The Minister also announced that he is allocating a further €15 million to be invested in upgrading the energy efficiency of local authority homes this year. This is part of a three year jobs stimulus programme that will see the energy efficiency of 25,000 of the poorest insulated local authority homes improved.
The Minister stated: “I’m happy to be able to continue the programme of energy retrofitting of social houses. These will benefit from improved attic and wall insulation, with consequent improvements in the thermal efficiency of the homes and improved comfort levels all around”.
The energy retrofitting programme will also see lower energy bills to thousands of local authority tenants. It is also supporting hundreds of jobs in the green energy sector, in work which is labour intensive by its nature.
The Minister added: “As a result of the further €15 million for energy retrofitting works to social houses, I expect to see over 4,000 houses becoming warmer homes, with reduced fuel bills this winter”. The allocations to each local authority are at Appendix B.
Appendix A allocations to local authorities for adaptations and extensions to social houses to meet needs of tenants with a disability or to address serious overcrowding
Local Authority Allocation
Carlow €190,350
Cavan €159,585
Clare €191,278
Cork City €361,204
Cork Co Co €359,437
Donegal €162,973
Dublin City €446,161
Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown €323,532
Fingal €490,352
Galway City €102,252
Galway County €159,550
Kerry €333,364
Kildare €329,829
Kilkenny €229,412
Laois €53,957
Leitrim €38,811
Limerick €315,356
Longford €159,406
Louth €414,896
Mayo €304,088
Meath €369,822
Monaghan €83,751
Offaly €170,984
Roscommon €311,269
Sligo €109,128
South Dublin €360,873
Tipperary €445,056
Waterford €335,795
Westmeath €83,792
Wexford €200,000
Wicklow €403,628
TOTAL €7,999,891
Appendix B allocations to local authorities for energy retrofitting works to social houses
Local Authority Allocation
Carlow €100,172
Cavan €216,790
Clare €130,074
Cork City €3,492,555
Cork Co Co €334,903
Donegal €109,142
Dublin City €3,876,796
Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown €846,227
Fingal €0
Galway City €130,074
Galway County €86,716
Kerry €216,790
Kildare €467,967
Kilkenny €121,103
Laois €476,937
Leitrim €43,358
Limerick €282,574
Longford €224,265
Louth €0
Mayo €242,206
Meath €488,898
Monaghan €92,696
Offaly €86,716
Roscommon €325,932
Sligo €43,358
South Dublin €868,654
Tipperary €1,000,222
Waterford €130,074
Westmeath €209,314
Wexford €173,432
Wicklow €130,074
TOTAL €14,948,019